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The parents of Armenian soldiers killed in a military barracks fire in January blocked the streets around Republic Square in central Yerevan on Thursday morning, accusing Armenia’s authorities of trying to cover up their deaths.

They demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Defense Minister Suren Papikyan.

Fifteen Armenian servicemen were killed and three others were severely injured following a major fire that broke out in the barracks of an engineer and sapper company in a military unit in Azat, a village in Armenia's eastern Gegharkunik Province, on January 19.

Pashinyan and Papikyan announced shortly after the deadly incident that the fire was sparked by an officer who poured gasoline into a woodstove in violation of the fire safety rules.

The victims’ families distrust the criminal investigation into the incident, claiming their sons were deliberately killed.

“We aren’t going to keep quiet. What have they been up to for three months? Our children must have known something, that’s why they were killed," one of the protesters said.

Pashinyan has said he will not meet with the soldiers’ parents until the ongoing probe is completed.