Three police officers and one civilian were killed Monday in armed attacks on a police station and a security building in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty. Police said they have disarmed and arrested two attackers but have not said whether others were involved in the assaults in the country's financial capital.
Speculation mounted over the motives of the gunmen, with some media reports describing them as radical Islamists. President Nursultan Nazarbayev, 76, chaired an emergency meeting of his security council in response to the shootings, his press service said.
The first detained man is accused of killing a local resident during a carjacking and attacking the Almalinsky police station in broad daylight, then shooting dead a police officer and seizing his gun, the interior ministry said.
The suspect then shot dead two officers as they gave chase before being arrested.
The health ministry said eight people had been admitted to hospital.
"According to preliminary information, the detained man is a 27-year-old man with previous convictions," the interior ministry said, adding that he was also suspected of murdering a woman at the weekend. The police have not provided any details about the second suspect.