Five suspected militants were killed in gunbattles with police that followed a series of recent armed attacks that have challenged stability of the energy- rich ex-Soviet nation, authorities said on Friday.
Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee said its agents tracked down four suspects hiding in an apartment building early on Friday in Aktobe, a city in Kazakhstan’s northwest, about 70 kilometers south of the Russian border.
The agency said the suspects refused to surrender, fired on police and security officers, and were killed in the ensuing gunbattle.