Umm Muhammed Umar

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has ordered his country’s security forces to “shoot to kill without warning.” The move followed violent unrest continuing unabated in Kazakhstan.

Tokayev threatened, in a televised address, to ‘destroy’ protestors as part of a purported “counterterrorist” operation.

Al Jazeera reports the interior ministry as saying 26 “armed criminals” had been “liquidated” while 18 members of the country’s security forces had also been killed. Meanwhile, more than 3 000 people have been arrested this past week.

Further, according to Al Jazeera, gunshots could be heard on Friday morning near the central square in the city of Almaty.

Russia has sent 2 500 so called “peacekeeping forces” to Kazakhstan at Tokayev’s request, amid alarmed warnings from the West to Moscow to respect Kazakhstan’s sovereignty.

The Collective Security Treaty Organisation said that it’s ‘peacekeepers’ have the right to use weapons in the event of an attack by what it termed “armed gangs.”