© ReutersDemonstrators clash with law enforcement officers during a protest triggered by fuel price increase in Aktobe, Kazakhstan January 5, 2022, in this still image taken from a video. Video taken January 5, 2022.
The news comes as President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who called the violence a coup attempt, is set to nominate a new prime minister in an address to parliament later in the day.
The oil-rich former Soviet republic says government buildings were attacked in several major cities after initially peaceful protests against hikes in the price of car fuel turned violent.
Tokayev has said extremist militants from regional nations and Afghanistan, as well as the Middle East, were among the attackers.
He dismissed his cabinet amid the unrest, along with a number of security officials and detained on suspicion of treason the most senior among them, Karim Masimov, a former head of the national security committee.
Comment: Following President Tokayev's speech exposing the coup attempt, that involved foreign forces as well as internal elements, a 'wave of suicides' was reported to have swept through Kazakhstan's officials.
See also:
- Steppe on Fire: Kazakhstan's color revolution
- Kazakhstan's President warned of terrorist threat his nation faced
- President Tokayev: Kazakhstan crisis was an 'attempted coup'
And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Kazakhstan on Fire: Why US vs Russia 'Great Game' Could Spark Global Economic Collapse