Kazakhstan's authoritarian leader says he has ordered security forces to "fire without warning", amid a violent crackdown on anti-government protests.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also said "20,000 bandits" had attacked the main city of Almaty, the epicentre of protests sparked by a fuel price hike.

He blamed foreign-trained "terrorists", without giving evidence.

The interior ministry says 26 "armed criminals" and 18 security officers have been killed so far in the unrest.

In a televised address, Mr Tokayev dismissed calls to hold talks with protesters as "nonsense", saying: "What kind of talks can we hold with criminals and murderers?"

"We had to deal with armed and well-prepared bandits, local as well as foreign. More precisely, with terrorists. So we have to destroy them, this will be done soon," he said.

Opposition groups have rejected the authorities' accusations of terrorism.

Earlier, the president said constitutional order had been largely restored. A BBC correspondent in Almaty said the situation was much quieter after days of violence, although there had been some sounds of gunfire and explosions. (BBC)

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