One dead, eight injured in military blast

ADAZI -- One member of the Latvian Home Guard has been killed and eight injured following an explosion at the Adazi training grounds outside Riga.

17th Anti-aircraft Defense Battalion soldier Ilmars Mitenbergs died of his wounds in the hospital. Two more men remain in critical but stable condition.

National Armed Forces Commander Raimonds Graube has ordered an immediate investigation into the explosion.

The blast took place while soldiers were running drills with anti-aircraft missiles. Latvian Radio reports, however, that the blast was unrelated to the training exercise.

Army spokesman Normunds Stafeckis told Delfi that the explosion took place at the end of a training exercise as the soldiers gathered for a debriefing before going home.

"What exploded, why it exploded, will be explained," he said.