Troops ordered to fire without warning to crackdown protests in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan's authoritarian leader says he has ordered security forces to "fire without warning", amid a violent crackdown on anti-government protests, reported British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also said "20,000 bandits" had attacked the main city of Almaty, the epicentre of protests sparked by a fuel price hike, said the BBC.

He has blamed foreign-trained "terrorists", without giving evidence.

The interior ministry says 26 "armed criminals" and 18 security officers have been killed so far in the unrest.

In a televised address, Mr Tokayev dismissed calls to hold talks with protesters as "nonsense", saying: "What kind of talks can we hold with criminals and murderers?" the report added.

Click BBC to read the detail original report.