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| Train burnt as Kazakh Zhanaozen oil unrest spreads | Train burnt as Kazakh Zhanaozen oil unrest spreads |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Unrest in western Kazakhstan has spread, with one person shot dead and 11 others injured as police opened fire on protesters blocking a railway. | |
| Most of the protesters in the village of Shetpe dispersed after a warning but a group of 50 allegedly began rioting, setting a freight locomotive on fire. | Most of the protesters in the village of Shetpe dispersed after a warning but a group of 50 allegedly began rioting, setting a freight locomotive on fire. |
| Police opened fire after coming under attack, prosecutors said. | Police opened fire after coming under attack, prosecutors said. |
| The protesters were demonstrating in support of striking oil workers in the nearby town of Zhanaozen, they added. | The protesters were demonstrating in support of striking oil workers in the nearby town of Zhanaozen, they added. |
| Riots in the town on Friday left 11 people dead and dozens injured. | Riots in the town on Friday left 11 people dead and dozens injured. |
| This is the deadliest unrest to have hit Kazakhstan since its independence from the Soviet Union 20 years ago, the BBC's Rayhan Demytrie reports from the Kazakh city of Almaty. | This is the deadliest unrest to have hit Kazakhstan since its independence from the Soviet Union 20 years ago, the BBC's Rayhan Demytrie reports from the Kazakh city of Almaty. |
| Events in Shetpe could not be verified independently and three Russian journalists deployed to cover events in Zhanaozen were arrested on Sunday. | |
| Gunshot wounds | |
| Protesters blocked the line at 13:24 (08:24 GMT) on Saturday, halting a passenger train carrying 300 people from Mangyshlak to Aktobe, prosecutors said in a statement. | |
| They "made calls to support the participants in the mass unrest in Zhanaozen" and their action delayed seven passenger and three freight trains. | |
| After warnings, most of the crowd dispersed but some 50 protesters continued to block the line and police moved in around 20:00. | |
| In response, the protesters set fire to a freight locomotive and threw petrol bombs at the wagons, then ran riot in the village, burning a New Year's tree, and smashing shop and car windows. | |
| When police came under attack with petrol bombs and stones, they were forced to use their weapons, the prosecutors said. | |
| Twelve people were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds and one of them died. | |
| President Nursultan Nazarbayev declared a 20-day state of emergency in Zhanaozen on Saturday. | |
| The violence there apparently began when oil workers locked in a pay dispute stormed a stage erected for an Independence Day party and smashed sound equipment. | |
| They reportedly later set fire to the city hall, the headquarters of a local oil company, a hotel and dozens of other buildings and vehicles. | |
| Eyewitnesses said police had fired on unarmed protesters but the authorities say they were forced to defend themselves. | |
| Eighty-six people were injured - according to official figures - and some had to be taken to hospital in Aktau, some 150km (90miles) away, due to a shortage of beds in Zhanaozen. | |
| On Sunday, lenta.ru news website correspondent Ilya Azar was arrested in Zhanaozen along with a Kommersant newspaper team, Vladimir Solovyov and Vasily Shaposhnikov, their publications confirmed. No explanation for their detention was given, Kommersant says. | |
| Azar tweeted on Saturday to say he and the others had just taken off from Moscow for Aktau. His Twitter account has not been active since his departure. |