Kazakh president rejects talks, tells forces to 'shoot to kill'

The energy-rich Kazakhstan is facing its biggest crisis in decades. Kazakhstan's president has rejected calls for talks with protesters after days of unprecedented unrest, vowing to destroy "armed bandits" and authorising his forces to shoot to kill without warning. In a hardline address to the nation on Friday, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also gave "special thanks" to Russian President Vladimir Putin after a Moscow-led military alliance sent troops to Kazakhstan to help quell the unrest. Security forces had blocked off strategic areas of Almaty -- the country's largest city and epicentre of the recent violence -- and were firing into the air if anyone approached, an AFP correspondent said. Elsewhere the city was like a ghost town, with banks, supermarkets and restaurants closed. The few small shops still open were quickly running out of food.

Tokayev said order had mostly been restored across the country, after protests this week over fuel prices escalated into widespread violence. "Terrorists continue to damage property... and use weapons against civilians. I have given the order to law enforcement to shoot to kill without warning," Tokayev ridiculed calls from abroad for negotiations as "nonsense". "We are dealing with armed and trained bandits, both local and foreign. With bandits and terrorists. So they must be destroyed. This will be done shortly."  Tokayev said Almaty had been under assault from "20,000 bandits" with a "clear plan of attack, coordination of actions and high combat readiness." He blamed "so-called free media" and unnamed foreign figures for instigating the violence, adding: "Democracy is not permissiveness."The interior ministry said 26 "armed criminals" had been killed in the unrest, after earlier reporting "dozens" dead. It said 18 security officers had been killed and more than 740 wounded, and more than 3,800 people detained.

Most flights into the country have been cancelled and Russian news agencies quoted Almaty airport officials saying it would be closed to all but military flights until Sunday. Western countries have called for restraint on all sides and for the respect of people's right to protest peacefully. China's President Xi Jinping however praised Tokayev for taking "strong measures".