The explosion occurred in downtown Yerevan at the intersection of Halabyan and Arzumanyan streets and could be heard from miles away. According to Armenia's police chief, the blast may have been caused by an explosive device.
"An explosive device could have been triggered in the passenger bus in Yerevan," police chief Vladimir Gasparyan said. "The blast was undulated, not fragmented."
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All injured individuals have been hospitalized.
Investigators are still looking into the cause of the explosion. The bus explosion occurred one day after the Armenian capital hosted ceremonies to mark the 101st anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
Armenia was back in the news earlier this month when hostilities were renewed in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. While the territory officially belongs to Azerbaijan, it broke away after several years of fighting and is controlled by ethnic Armenians who declared the territory an independent state. In the first days of April, heavy clashes between Azeri Army and Nagorno-Karabakh forces left dozens dead on both sides. The situation threatened to lead to a full-blown war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Russian leadership organized emergency negotiations with both countries and managed to broker a cessation of hostilities. Since then, the ceasefire has been largely upheld.
Speaking to reporters earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that "everyone is making efforts for the fire to cease and not resume again."
