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Kazakh president says his orders are to shoot to kill terrorists

Tokayev said the situation in Almaty, Aktobe and the Almaty Region stabilized on Thursday

NUR-SULTAN, January 7. /TASS/. Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Friday said he ordered law enforcement agents and troops to shoot to kill terrorists without warning.

"A counterterrorism operation is continuing in our country," he said in an address to the nation. "I have given the order to law enforcement agencies and the armed forces to shoot to kill without warning,"

Tokayev said the situation in Almaty, Aktobe and the Almaty Region stabilized on Thursday. But he said terrorists were still inflicting damage to government and private property and using guns against citizens.

Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, later growing into mass riots and attacks on government offices. Thousands of casualties have been reported, including fatalities. The Kazakh president asked the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance of former Soviet republics, for help. Peacekeeping units have already started fulfilling their tasks in Kazakhstan.