TASS, January 6. Some 353 members of Kazakhstan’s law enforcement were hurt in the clashes with protesters in Almaty, 12 were killed, the Khabar-24 TV channel said quoting the Almaty commandant’s office.

According to the TV channel, one of the victims was beheaded. "This proves the terrorist and extremist nature of criminal formations," the commandant’s office was quoted as saying.

Currently, an anti-terror operation is underway in Almaty. The TV channel, citing the republic’s Interior Ministry, says that it is complicated by the fact that the terrorists "use civilians as human shields."

Protest rallies against high fuel prices erupted on January 2 in Zhanaozen and Aktau in the Mangystau Region in southwestern Kazakhstan. Two days later, the protests engulfed Almaty in the country’s southeast and other cities where the protesters clashed with the police. Casualties were reported, the state of emergency was declared in the country. The CSTO Collective Security Council made the decision to send peacekeepers to Kazakhstan in order to stabilize the situation. First peacekeeping units have already started implementing their tasks in Kazakhstan.