Reuters
Published: 2:36pm, 7 Jan, 2022

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Friday that constitutional order had mostly been restored in the Central Asian country hit by unrest this week, his office quoted him as saying in a statement.

An unknown number of demonstrators died in clashes. The Kazakh interior ministry said in a separate statement that 26 “armed criminals” had been “liquidated” and more than 3,000 of them detained, while 18 police and national guard servicemen had been killed since the start of the protests.

Police on Thursday said “dozens” had been killed in clashes with security forces

“An anti-terrorist operation has been launched. The forces of law and order are working hard. Constitutional order has largely been restored in all regions of the country,” Tokayev said.

“Local authorities are in control of the situation. But terrorists are still using weapons and damaging the property of citizens. Therefore, counterterrorist actions should be continued until the militants are completely eliminated,” he added.

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