Clashes in largest Kazakh city, Moscow-led troops arrive

Protesters were reported to have stormed several buildings include the Almaty mayor's office

Bursts of gunfire echoed through the streets of Kazakhstan's largest city on Thursday as Moscow-led troops arrived to help quell mass unrest that left dozens dead and hundreds detained.

Fighting in Almaty continued a day after protesters stormed several government buildings, with an AFP correspondent hearing regular eruptions of gunfire from the direction of a central square.

The first units of Russian forces from a Moscow-led peacekeeping force had meanwhile arrived in Kazakhstan, the Russian defence ministry said, after the Kazakh government appealed for help. 

Armed protesters have fought running battles with government forces, with officials saying 748 security officers have been wounded and 18 killed, including two who had their heads cut off.

Burnt-out vehicles littered Almaty's streets, several government buildings were in ruins and bullet casings were strewn over the grounds of the presidential residence, which was stormed and looted by protesters on Wednesday.

Under increasing pressure, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev appealed overnight to the Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), which includes five other ex-Soviet states, to combat what he called "terrorist groups" that had "received extensive training abroad".

"Peacekeeping forces... were sent to the Republic of Kazakhstan for a limited time to stabilise and normalise the situation," the CSTO said in a statement, without specifying the number of troops involved.

In the worst reported violence so far, police said dozens of people were "eliminated" in overnight battles with security forces at government buildings in Almaty.

The interior ministry said police had "moved forward to clear the streets" and detained about 2,300 people so far.

Protests spread across the nation of 19 million this week in outrage over a New Year increase in prices for liquid petroleum gas (LPG).

The full picture of the chaos was unclear, with widespread disruptions to communications including mobile phone signals, the blocking of online messengers and hours-long internet shutdowns.

Tokayev tried to head off further unrest by announcing the resignation of the cabinet early on Wednesday, but protests continued.

As protests escalated, authorities declared a nationwide state of emergency until January 19, with curfews, restrictions on movements and bans on mass gatherings.

Much of the anger appeared directed at Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989 before handing power to Tokayev.

Western countries have called for restraint on all sides, with US State Department spokesman Ned Price warning Russian troops in Kazakhstan against taking control of the country's institutions.

France-based Kazakh opposition leader Mukhtar Ablyazov said that the country's ruling regime was nearing its end.

"Literally in three days a revolution took place, and it is really a revolution in the public consciousness... people understood that they are not weak."

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