Kazakhstan: Four killed in gun attacks in Almaty

“The terror alert level was raised to its highest level in Almaty after attacks by persons unknown against a police post and a department of the national security committee,” said a statement.

Three police officers and one civilian were killed Monday following armed attacks on a police station and a security service office in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty, the interior ministry said.

Parts of the city were in lockdown following the incident with one suspect in custody and a manhunt underway for an accomplice still at large, the interior ministry said in a statement.

“According to preliminary information, the detained man is a 27-year-old man with previous convictions,” the ministry said, adding that he is “suspected of murdering a woman at the weekend”.

It said that police are now searching for the gunman’s “partner in crime.”

Local media reported that at least seven policemen are being treated in hospital.

The country’s anti-terror service has issued a red alert threat warning following the attacks and police have called on residents of the city to stay in their homes.

According to eyewitness accounts, a man wearing black ran onto a street wielding a gun and shot in the direction of the local police station. Some witnesses said that an unknown gunman was running around with a machine gun.

Police and rescue teams reached to the centre of the city and cordoned off the police headquarter and the the head office of the national security committee.

All gun shops in the city have closed on the orders of local authorities following the shooting, media reports.