Kazakhstan unrest: Dozens killed in crackdown

Security forces in Kazakhstan say they have killed dozens of anti-government rioters in an operation to restore order in the main city, Almaty.

They moved in after protesters tried to take control of police stations in the city, a police spokeswoman said. Twelve members of the security forces have been killed and 353 injured in the unrest, sparked by a doubling in the cost of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Russia is sending in troops at the request of the Kazakh president. They will be deployed to help "stabilise" the country, which is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) along with Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. The CSTO confirmed Russian paratroopers were being dispatched as peacekeepers, with advance units already deployed, and footage released by Russian media showed soldiers boarding a military transport plane.

Protests began on Sunday when the government lifted its price cap on LPG, which many people use to fuel their cars, but the unrest has since spread to include political grievances. Accusing foreign-trained "terrorist gangs" of being behind the trouble, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev imposed a nationwide state of emergency that includes a curfew and a ban on mass gatherings.