Kazakhstan tightens security after attack
Troops intensified patrols and traffic controls, following a deadly bombing that killed at least seven in Taraz.
Kazakhstan has tightened security in its southern provinces in the wake of a deadly bombing that killed five police officers and two civilians, including an apparent suicide bomber, in the city of Taraz.
A combined shooting-and-bomb attack took place on Saturday in the southern Kazakh city of Taraz, the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency reported.
Keep reading
list of 4 itemsGaza’s mass graves: Is the truth being uncovered?
US report finds possible Israeli violations of international law in Gaza
South Africa asks ICJ to order Israel to withdraw from Gaza’s Rafah
Troops stationed along the country’s southern border had intensified patrols and traffic controls, the news agency Kazakhstan-Novosti said.
The two police officers who sustained bullet injuries were in a serious but stable condition, the Interfax news agency reported.
At least one of the explosions was thought to have occurred outside the national security committee building.
An unknown individual attacked a weapons shop, stealing two Saiga rifles and killing a security guard, the interior ministry said in a statement quoted by Interfax-Kazakhstan.
He then escaped in a vehicle, shooting dead two police officers on his way. When finally apprehended, the gunman detonated his charge, killing himself and a traffic policeman, the agency reported.
“After being arrested, the wounded criminal blew himself up and as a result a member of the traffic police was killed,” the interior ministry said.
Bekbolat Orynbekov, the head of the Taraz administration, told the news agency: “Investigators, the national security committee and prosecutors are working at the scene.”
Interfax-Kazakhstan said that its own correspondent in the city had seen one corpse being put into a black body bag by the local authorities. A nearby shop was also burgled.