At Least Two Dead In Explosion, Shoot-Out In Kazakhstan

Last updated (GMT/UTC): 12.11.2011 11:03
At least two people have been killed in an explosion and shoot-out in the center of the Kazakh city of Taraz.
 
Interfax reports that the shoot-out and blast occurred outside the building of the National Security Committee in the southern city and quotes the head of the Taraz administration, Bekbolat Orynbekov, as saying there are two dead.
 
Other sources give differing death tolls.
 
RIA news agency quotes witnesses as saying three people were killed.
 
RFE/RL's Kazakh Service says police officials have refused to comment on the incident or the death toll.
 
Last week, a militant Islamist group claimed responsibility for two explosions in the western Kazakh oil city of Atyrau, after earlier threatening violence.