DUSHANBE, July 18, 2016, Asia-Plus — A “red” alert has been issued for Kazakhstan’s city of Almaty and authorities there are urging people to stay indoors after unknown gunmen attacked a police station reportedly killing at least three policemen and wounding several others on July 18.
Local media was reporting attacks at a police station and the local department of the Committee for National Security (CNS) said one of its facilities in Almaty had come under attack.
According to BBC, Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry confirmed three policemen and one civilian were killed in the attack.
One attacker, 27, has been captured but an accomplice is still at large, the interior ministry said in a statement.
The government has raised the terror threat level but not said who was behind the attack.
Two gunmen attacked a police station in central Almaty, killing the three police officers in an exchange of fire, police said.
As they fled the scene, one of the gunmen shot and killed a local resident before hijacking his car.
At least one of the attackers has been taken into custody.
Kazakh authorities said two police officers had also been wounded in the attack and identified the detained gunman as a former convict wanted for the murder of a woman earlier this month.
It comes a month after a deadly assault in the northwestern town of Aktobe. Kazakhstan was already on “yellow” alert after a rampage in early June by a group of young men in the northwestern city of Aktobe that left at least 28 people dead.
