Eight dead, 40 hurt in Kazakhstan clashes

Eight people were killed, dozens hurt and property burned during clashes in southern Kazakhstan, prompting concern Saturday from authorities who portray the country as a beacon of stability. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held an emergency government session Saturday to tackle Friday's violence in an ethnically-mixed pocket of the Jambyl region, near the border with Kyrgyzstan.

A commission of enquiry was also set up.

"Eight died, more than 40 were injured" in the clashes, Interior Minister Yerlan Turgumbayev said in the capital Nur-Sultan. An AFP journalist who visited Masanchi - one of the villages where clashes took place - said few people were out walking on streets lined by smouldering houses as fire crews put out the remaining fires.