asia
9 dead in India train accident
The death toll in the India rail tragedy rose to nine Friday morning, as rescuers called off the search for survivors in the wreckage of the train that derailed in the eastern state of West Bengal Thursday evening.
As many as 12 coaches of the Guwahati-Bikaner Express came off the rails at 5pm (local time) on Thursday near Maynaguri town of Bengal's Jalpaiguri district. Some of the coaches even overturned in the impact.
Apart from the nine deaths, some 50 people sustained injuries in the accident, an Indian Railways official told UNB in Delhi. "All the injured, including the serious ones, are being treated at different hospitals."
Also read: 4 killed in Kushtia road accident
Jalpaiguri district magistrate Moumita Basu told the local media that rescuers searched all coaches of the ill-fated train for survivors and bodies through darkness and thick fog."We sent generators to light up the site."
Local TV channels beamed footage of the rescue operations and people searching for their missing family members at hospitals and the crash site.
In a statement, the Indian Railways said the train was carrying 1,053 passengers from the western state of Rajasthan to Assam in the northeast when it derailed in Bengal. It was running three hours behind schedule.
Indian Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that he was "personally monitoring" the situation. "We will fulfill all of our duties."
Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted to say that they were deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the accident.
Also read: Greece: 13 dead, others missing in new migrant boat accident
"The derailment of coaches of the Bikaner-Guhawati Express near New Maynaguri, West Bengal is distressing. My thoughts and prayers are with the affected passengers and their families. I wish speedy recovery to the injured," Kovind said.
Prime Minister Modi tweeted, “Spoke to Railways Minister Shri @AshwiniVaishnaw and took stock of the situation in the wake of the train accident in West Bengal. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly.”
"Senior Officers of the State Government, DM/SP/IG North Bengal are supervising rescue and relief operations. Those injured will receive medical attention, as early as possible," Mamata tweeted.
The Indian Railways said that a senior official would lead the probe into the fatal train crash and fix accountability.
The Indian Railways run over 12,000 trains across the country, ferrying nearly 23 million passengers daily. But train accidents are not uncommon in India and are attributed to the ailing rail infrastructure.
India's COVID-19 tally rises to 36,317,927, over 200,000 cases reported in 24 hours
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 36,317,927 on Thursday, as 247,417 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.
This is the first day when more than 200,000 new cases were registered in a day in the country in over eight months.
Besides, 380 deaths due to the pandemic since Wednesday morning took the total death toll to 485,035.
Read: India's COVID-19 tally surpasses 36 mln with 194,720 new cases
There are 1,117,531 active COVID-19 cases in the country, with a rise of 162,212 active cases over the past 24 hours. This is the 16th consecutive day when the number of active cases rose in the country.
A total of 34,715,361 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals so far, out of which 84,825 were discharged during the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the country's Omicron tally has reached 5,488, in which Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Delhi have reported 1,367, 792 and 549 cases, respectively. To date, 2,162 Omicron patients have been discharged after recovery, as per the federal Health Ministry's data.
After Kazakhstan unrest, relatives await detainees' release
With about 12,000 people arrested after anti-government protests in Kazakhstan last week, friends and relatives of those held by police waited outside a jail Wednesday, hoping to learn their fate. Some even went to morgues to see if a loved one was among the scores killed in the unprecedented violence in the Central Asian nation.
Authorities have refused to allow relatives or lawyers to see those in custody, giving little information about them, according to human rights activists.
The demonstrations began Jan. 2 in the western part of Kazakhstan over a sharp rise in fuel prices and spread throughout the country, apparently reflecting wider discontent with the government, which declared a state of emergency for the whole country and asked a Russia-led military alliance to send in troops to help restore order.
Read: Kazakhstan says 164 killed in last week's protests
Another 1,678 people were arrested in the past 24 hours in Almaty, the largest city that was hit hardest by the turmoil, and more than 300 criminal investigations have been opened. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev blamed the unrest on foreign-backed “terrorists,” but did not provide any evidence, and had given shoot-to-kill orders to security forces to quell the unrest.
Outside a branch of the Internal Affairs department that housed a large detention center, a man who gave his name only as Renat said he has been waiting nearly a week to see or get any information about a close friend, Zhandos Nakipovich. He said Nakipovich, whom he described as being like “a brother” to him, was taken into custody on Jan. 4 during a peaceful protest.
“He was at first held at a precinct, then they told us he was in the Internal Affairs department," Renat told The Associated Press. "Since Jan. 6, we’ve been here and we don’t know whether he’s alive or not.”
Military checkpoints prevented anyone from getting close to the building.
“Neither lawyers nor relatives — no one is allowed inside. Lawyers should be present during interrogation, but as you see, no one can pass,” said Galym Ageleuov, head of the Liberty human rights group, who was waiting at the barricade.
“The checkpoint blocks the access for lawyers and relatives to see what’s going on there. We don’t even have the list of detainees,” Ageleuov said.
More than a dozen men and women in dark winter clothes gathered outside one of Almaty's morgues, with some of them waiting to collect the bodies of relatives killed in the unrest. Huddled together in small groups, they stood at the gate of the facility, chatting quietly with each other but refused to talk to a reporter.
Although the official death toll was announced as 164, Tokayev has said hundreds of civilians and security forces were killed and injured.
Read:Kazakhstan adds uncertainty to talks with Russia on Ukraine
Life in Almaty has started returning to normal after days of unrest that saw cars and buses torched, government buildings stormed and set ablaze, the airport seized and the sound of gunfire ringing out. The unrest had largely ended by last weekend.
Public transportation has resumed and shopping malls reopened, and the only reminders of the violence were occasional military roadblocks and the charred exterior of city hall, which was set ablaze at the height of the rioting.
Authorities in the energy-rich country of 19 million sought to mollify the anger at the government by capping fuel prices for 180 days. The Cabinet resigned, and longtime former leader Nursultan Nazarbayev was ousted from his influential post of head of the National Security Council. Nazarbayev had stepped down as president in 2019 after nearly three decades in power, but retained influence in the security forces.
Tokayev requested help from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, a Russia-led military alliance of six ex-Soviet states. The bloc sent over 2,000 troops to Kazakhstan, and Tokayev said the troops will start withdrawing Thursday.
India's COVID-19 tally surpasses 36 mln with 194,720 new cases
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 36,070,510 on Wednesday, as 194,720 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.
This is the fourth consecutive day when more than 150,000 new cases were registered in a day in the country, and also the highest single-day spike in over eight months.
Read:Omicron surge in India slams travel through Benapole land port
Besides, 442 more deaths were recorded since Tuesday morning, taking the death toll to 484,655.
Currently there are 955,319 active cases in the country with an increase of 133,873 during the period. This is the 15th consecutive day when the number of active cases rose in the country.
A total of 34,630,536 people have recovered and been discharged from hospitals so far, with 60,405 new recoveries.
Read: India logs 90,928 new COVID-19 cases
Meanwhile, the country's Omicron tally has reached 4,868, out of which Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Delhi states have reported 1,281, 645 and 546 cases, respectively. Till now 1,805 Omicron patients have been discharged after recovery, as per the federal health ministry's data.
North Korea claims successful test of hypersonic missile
North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a successful flight test of a hypersonic missile he claimed would remarkably increase the country’s nuclear “war deterrent.”
The report by North Korean state media on Wednesday came a day after the militaries of the United States, South Korea and Japan said they detected North Korea firing a suspected ballistic missile into its eastern sea.
The Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday’s launch involved a hypersonic glide vehicle, which after its release from the rocket booster demonstrated “glide jump flight” and “corkscrew maneuvering” before hitting a sea target 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) away. Photos released by the agency showed a missile mounted with a pointed cone-shaped payload soaring into the sky while leaving a trail of orange flames and Kim watching from a small cabin with top officials, including his sister Kim Yo Jong.
The launch was North Korea’s second test of its purported hypersonic missile in a week, a type of weaponry it first tested in September, as Kim Jong Un continues a defiant push to expand his nuclear weapons capabilities in the face of international sanctions, pandemic-related difficulties and deadlocked diplomacy with the United States.
The North has been ramping up its testing activity since last fall in what experts see as an attempt to apply more pressure on rivals Washington and Seoul to accept it as a nuclear power in hopes of winning relief from economic sanctions.
It was the first time since March 2020 that North Korean state media reported Kim’s attendance at a missile test, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs.
The KCNA said Kim praised the accomplishments made by his military scientists and officials involved in developing the hypersonic missile system, which he described as the most significant part of a new five-year plan announced in early 2021 to build up the North’s military force.
The North has described the new missile as part of its “strategic” weaponry, implying that the system is being developed to deliver nuclear weapons.
“The superior maneuverability of the hypersonic glide vehicle was more strikingly verified through the final test-fire,” KCNA said. It said Kim stressed the need to speed up the expansion of the country’s “strategic military muscle both in quality and quantity and further modernize the army” and encouraged military scientists to continue their success in “remarkably increasing the war deterrent of the country.”
Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose a crucial challenge to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability. Such weapons were on a wish-list of sophisticated military assets Kim unveiled early last year along with multi-warhead missiles, spy satellites, solid-fuel long-range missiles and submarine-launched nuclear missiles.
Experts say North Korea needs more successful and longer-range tests that would take years before acquiring a credible hypersonic system.
Kim’s attendance at Tuesday’s test and state media’s description of the event as a “final test-fire” could indicate that North Korea is pushing to deploy the weapon relatively soon. But it’s more likely that the North will continue testing to increase the system’s range, stability and accuracy, said Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Washington condemns the North’s latest launch, which violates multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and poses a threat to neighbors and to the broader international community. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the launch highlighted the “destabilizing impact of (North Korea’s) illicit weapons program” but didn’t pose an immediate threat to U.S. territory or its allies.
“We continue to call on the DPRK to refrain from further provocations and, importantly, to engage in sustained and substantive dialogue,” Price said, using an abbreviation of North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Minutes after Tuesday’s launch, airports across the western United States halted flights for a short time without explanation. A spokeswoman for San Diego International Airport referred questions to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA acknowledged the “ground stop” in a tweet, without offering a reason why it issued the order.
“Full operations resumed in less than 15 minutes,” the FAA said. “The FAA regularly takes precautionary measures. We are reviewing the process around this ground stop as we do after all such events.”
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff had said the North Korean missile flew 700 kilometers (434 miles) at a maximum speed of around Mach 10 before landing in waters off the North’s eastern coast.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry had played down North Korea’s earlier test on Jan. 5, insisting that the North exaggerated its capabilities after testing a conventional ballistic missile and expressing doubt that the North had acquired the technologies needed for hypersonic weapons. Following Tuesday’s launch, the Joint Chief of Staff said in a statement that the North demonstrated more advanced capability compared to its previous test, but didn’t elaborate further.
Kim Jong Un entered the new year renewing his vow to bolster his military forces, even as the nation grapples with pandemic-related difficulties that have further strained its economy, crippled by U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear program. The economic setbacks have left Kim with little to show for his diplomacy with former U.S. President Donald Trump, which derailed after their second meeting in 2019 when the Americans rejected North Korea’s demand for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.
The Biden administration, whose policies have reflected a broader shift in U.S. focus from counterterrorism and so-called rogue states like North Korea and Iran to confronting a near-peer adversary in China, has said it’s willing to resume talks with North Korea at any time without preconditions.
But North Korea has so far rejected the idea of open-ended talks, saying the U.S. must first withdraw its “hostile policy,” a term Pyongyang mainly uses to describe the sanctions and joint U.S.-South Korea military drills.
UNESCO to publish Hindi descriptions of India's World Heritage Sites on WHC website
On the occasion of World Hindi Day on January 10, the Director of World Heritage Centre has informed the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO, Paris that UNESCO's World Heritage Centre has agreed to publish Hindi descriptions of India's UNESCO World Heritage Sites on WHC website.
Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO, Paris organized the virtual celebration of World Hindi Day on January 10, 2022, reports ANI.
READ: 7pc Bangladesh families have to borrow to send children to school: UNESCO
Minister of State of External Affairs and culture, Meenakshi Lekhi gave a video message on World Hindi Day and emphasized the importance of Hindi.
India's ambassador/permanent representative to UNESCO, Vishal V. Sharma also highlighted the key points that Hindi attained during the last 75 years of India's independence.
For the celebrations, the delegation has received short videos on this occasion from Assistant-Director Generals for Education, Social and Human Sciences, Culture, Communication and Information and Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic.
READ: Doleshwar Hanafia Jame Mosque wins UNESCO award
The Ambassadors/ permanent Delegates to UNESCO from Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ecuador, France, Greece, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, Palestine, Republic of Korea, Palestine, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, Vietnam also sent the video message on World Hindi Day.
Embassies / High commissions, Consulate Generals of India in Canberra, Wellington Georgetown, Doha, London, Riyadh, Washington D.C., Male, Kathmandu, Colombo, Kuwait, Windhoek, Suriname, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Dushanbe, Port Luis, Johannesburg and Gaborone also celebrated the occasion by sending the videos.
Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar hospitalised with Covid
Legendary Indian playback singer Lata Mangeshkar has been hospitalised in the western city of Mumbai after testing positive for Covid-19.
The 92-year-old 'Queen of Melody' was rushed to the intensive care unit (ICU) of the premier Breach Candy Hospital after her RT-PCR test result came positive, her niece Rachana told the local media on Tuesday.
"She is mild Covid positive. Considering her age, doctors advised us that she should be in the ICU because she requires constant care. She will be fine. But it's going to take a while because of her age," Rachana said.
Also read: Sohel Rana shifted from ICU to cabin
Considered one of the leading and most respected playback singers in India, Lata has recorded songs in over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over 35 Indian languages and foreign languages.
In fact, she began her singing career at the age of 13, after her father's demise in 1942. Seven years later, Lata hogged limelight for her first major hit song 'Aayega Aanewaala' in a Bollywood movie.
Also read: Sourav Ganguly's daughter contracts Covid
From 1960s to 2000s, she dominated Bollywood. In 1974, Lata became the first Indian singer to perform at Royal Albert Hall in the British capital.
In 1989, Lata was given Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest recognition in the field of cinema. In 2001, Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, was bestowed on her by the Indian government.
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi sentenced to 4 more years in prison
A court in Myanmar sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to four more years in prison on Monday after finding her guilty of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies and violating coronavirus restrictions, a legal official said.
Suu Kyi was convicted last month on two other charges and given a four-year prison sentence, which was then halved by the head of the military-installed government.
The cases are among about a dozen brought against the 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate since the army seized power last February, ousting her elected government and arresting top members of her National League for Democracy party.
If found guilty of all the charges, she could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.
Suu Kyi’s supporters and independent analysts say the charges against her are contrived to legitimize the military’s seizure of power and prevent her from returning to politics.
Monday’s verdict in the court in the capital, Naypyitaw, was conveyed by a legal official who insisted on anonymity for fear of being punished by the authorities, who have restricted the release of information about Suu Kyi’s trials.
Read: Tortured to death: Myanmar mass killings revealed
He said she was sentenced to two years in prison under the Export-Import Law for importing the walkie-talkies and one year under the Telecommunications Law for possessing them. The sentences are to be served concurrently. She also received a two-year sentence under the Natural Disaster Management Law for allegedly violating coronavirus rules while campaigning.
Suu Kyi was convicted last month on two other charges — incitement and breaching COVID-19 restrictions — and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment. Hours after that sentence was issued, the head of the military-installed government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, reduced it by half.
Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory in a 2020 general election, but the military claimed there was widespread electoral fraud, an assertion that independent poll watchers doubt.
Since her first guilty verdict, Suu Kyi has been attending court hearings in prison clothes — a white top and a brown longyi skirt provided by the authorities. She is being held by the military at an unknown location, where state television reported last month she would serve her sentence.
The hearings are closed to the media and spectators and the prosecutors do not comment. Her lawyers, who had been a source of information on the proceedings, were served with gag orders in October.
The military-installed government has not allowed any outside party to meet with Suu Kyi since it seized power, despite international pressure for talks including her that could ease the country’s violent political crisis.
It would not allow a special envoy from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, to meet her. The refusal received a rare rebuke from fellow members, who barred Min Aung Hlaing from attending its annual summit meeting.
Even Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who took over as the regional group’s chair for this year and advocates engagement with the ruling generals, failed to meet her last week when he became the first head of government to visit Myanmar since the army’s takeover.
Read: Myanmar military reverts to strategy of massacres, burnings
The military’s seizure of power was quickly met by nonviolent nationwide demonstrations, which security forces quashed with deadly force, killing over 1,400 civilians, according to a detailed list compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Peaceful protests have continued, but amid the severe crackdown, an armed resistance has also grown, to the point that U.N. experts have warned the country could be sliding into civil war.
“Throwing a plethora of criminal charges at Aung San Suu Kyi ... reeks more of desperation than confidence,” said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, a democracy promotion group.
He said in an email interview after her first convictions that the military “massively miscalculated” in thinking that it could prevent protests by arresting Suu Kyi, her fellow party members and veteran independent political activists.
“A new mass movement was born which doesn’t depend on a single leader. There are hundreds of small groups organizing and resisting in different ways, from peaceful protest, boycotts and armed resistance,” Farmaner said. “Even with more than 7,000 people arrested since the coup, three times the average number detained under the previous military dictatorship, the military have been unable to suppress dissent.”
Suu Kyi was charged right after the military’s takeover with having improperly imported the walkie-talkies, which served as the initial justification for her continued detention. A second charge of illegally possessing the radios was filed the following month.
The radios were seized from the entrance gate of her residence and the barracks of her bodyguards during a search on Feb. 1, the day she was arrested.
Suu Kyi’s lawyers argued that the radios were not in her personal possession and were legitimately used to help provide for her security, but the court declined to dismiss the charges.
Read: Myanmar public urges gas sanctions to stop military funding
She was charged with two counts of violating coronavirus restrictions during campaigning for the 2020 election. She was found guilty on the first count last month.
She is also being tried by the same court on five counts of corruption. The maximum penalty for each count is 15 years in prison and a fine. A sixth corruption charge against her and ousted President Win Myint in connection with granting permits to rent and buy a helicopter has not yet gone to trial.
In separate proceedings, she is accused of violating the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.
Additional charges were also added by Myanmar’s election commission against Suu Kyi and 15 other politicians in November for alleged fraud in the 2020 election. The charges by the military-appointed Union Election Commission could result in Suu Kyi’s party being dissolved and unable to participate in a new election the military has promised will take place within two years of its takeover.
China’s Tianjin on partial lockdown after omicron found
The numbers are small, but the major port of Tianjin may be facing China’s first local outbreak of omicron of any size, less than a month before the Winter Olympics open in nearby Beijing.
State broadcaster CCTV said the government has divided Tianjin and its 14 million residents into three levels of restrictions, starting with lockdown areas where people are not allowed to leave their homes at all. In control areas, each household is allowed to have one family member leave to buy groceries every other day, while in prevention areas, people must remain inside their immediate neighborhoods.
Buses and trains from Tianjin to Beijing have been suspended and people are being told not to leave the city unless they have pressing business.
The city began mass testing of all its residents on Sunday after a cluster of 41 children and adults tested positive for COVID-19, including at least two with the omicron variant. Officials said the virus has been circulating so the number of cases could rise.
China has stepped up its strict zero tolerance strategy in the runup to the Olympics, which open Feb. 4. The Chinese capital is 115 kilometers (70 miles) northwest of Tianjin and many people regularly travel back and forth by car or on a high-speed rail link that takes less than one hour.
Read: China orders lockdown of up to 13 million people in Xi’an
Elsewhere, millions of people are being confined to their homes in Xi’an and Yuzhou, two cities that are farther away but have larger outbreaks traced to the delta variant. Residents of Xi’an have been under lockdown for more than two weeks, but the number of new cases in the city of 13 million fell to just 15 on Monday in a sign that restrictions could soon be lifted.
Another 60 cases were reported Monday in Henan province, two of them of the omicron variant, found in the city of Anyang and apparently brought from Tianjin by a college student on Dec. 28, state media outlet The Paper reported. The provincial capital of Zhengzhou has been conducting mass testing and closed its schools. Another 24 cases were reported in the city on Monday.
The first two cases confirmed in Tianjin were a 10-year-old girl and a 29-year-old woman working at an after-school center. Both were infected by the omicron variant. In subsequent testing of close contacts, 18 others tested positive and 767 tested negative as of Saturday night.
Those infected include 15 students from 8 to 13 years old, the after-school center staff member and four parents. The citywide testing is to be completed over two days. Tianjin has also closed some subway stations on two lines to try to prevent further spread.
Read: Netherlands 'going into lockdown again' to curb omicron
China had reported about a dozen omicron cases previously, most among people who had arrived from abroad and were isolated. In one case in mid-December, the infection was not detected until after the person had completed two weeks of quarantine, and it spread to a few close contacts in the southern city of Guangzhou.
Kazakhstan says 164 killed in last week's protests
Kazakhstan authorities said Sunday that 164 people, including a 4-year-old girl, were killed in a week of protests that marked the worst unrest since the former Soviet republic gained independence 30 years ago.
The office of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said order has been restored in the Central Asian country and that the government has regained control of all buildings that were taken over by the protesters. Some of the buildings were set on fire.
Sporadic gunfire was heard Sunday in Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, according to the Russian TV station Mir-24, but it was unclear whether those were warning shots by law enforcement. Tokayev said Friday he had authorized a shoot-to-kill order for police and the military to restore order.
Read: Kazakhstan adds uncertainty to talks with Russia on Ukraine
The demonstrations, which began in the western part of Kazakhstan, began Jan. 2. over a sharp rise in fuel prices and spread throughout the country, apparently reflecting wider discontent with the authoritarian government. They prompted a Russia-led military alliance to send troops to the country.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Tokayev's order “something I resolutely reject.”
“The shoot-to-kill order, to the extent it exists, is wrong and should be rescinded,” he said Sunday on ABC's “This Week.”
“And Kazakhstan has the ability to maintain law and order, to defend the institutions of the state, but to do so in a way that respects the rights of peaceful protesters and also addresses the concerns that they’ve raised – economic concerns, some political concerns,” Blinken added.
The same party has ruled Kazakhstan since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Anyone aspiring to oppose the government has either been repressed, sidelined, or co-opted, amid widespread economic hardship despite the country's enormous reserves of oil, natural gas, uranium and minerals.
About 5,800 people were detained during the unrest, Tokayev’s office said.
The death toll of 164, reported by the state news channel Khabar-24 and citing the Health Ministry, was a significant increase from previously announced totals. It was unclear if that number referred only to civilians or if law enforcement deaths were included. Kazakh authorities said earlier Sunday that 16 members of the police or national guard had been killed.
The ministry said 103 of the deaths occurred in Almaty, and Kazakhstan's ombudswoman for children's rights said three of those killed were minors, including a 4-year-old girl.
The ministry earlier reported more than 2,200 people sought treatment for injuries, and the Interior Ministry said about 1,300 security officers were injured.
Almaty’s airport, which had been taken over by protesters last week, remained closed but was expected to resume operations Monday.
Tokayev said the demonstrations were instigated by “terrorists” with foreign backing, although the protests have shown no obvious leaders or organization. Sunday's statement from his office said the detentions included “a sizable number of foreign nationals,” but gave no details.
It was unclear how many of those detained remained in custody.
The foreign ministry of neighboring Kyrgyzstan on Sunday called for the release of well-known Kyrgyz musician Vikram Ruzakhunov, who was shown in a video on Kazakh television saying that he had flown to the country to take part in protests and was promised $200. In the video, apparently taken in police custody, Ruzakhunov's face was bruised and he had a large cut on his forehead.
The former head of Kazakhstan’s counterintelligence and anti-terrorism agency has been arrested on charges of attempting to overthrow the government. The arrest of Karim Masimov, which was announced Saturday, came just days after he was removed as head of the National Security Committee by Tokayev.
No details were given about what Masimov was alleged to have done that would constitute an attempted overthrow of the government. The National Security Committee, a successor to the Soviet-era KGB, is responsible for counterintelligence, the border guards service and anti-terrorist activities.
As the unrest mounted, Kazakhstan's ministerial cabinet resigned but remained in their posts temporarily. Tokayev spokesman Brisk Uali said the president would propose a new cabinet on Tuesday.
Read:Dozens of protesters, 12 police dead in Kazakhstan protests
At Tokayev’s request, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-led military alliance of six former Soviet states, authorized sending about 2,500 mostly Russian troops to Kazakhstan as peacekeepers.
Some of the force is guarding government facilities in the capital, Nur-Sultan, which “made it possible to release part of the forces of Kazakhstani law enforcement agencies and redeploy them to Almaty to participate in the counterterrorist operation,” according to a statement from Tokayev’s office.
In a sign that the demonstrations were more deeply rooted than just over the fuel price rise, many demonstrators shouted “Old man out,” a reference to Nursultan Nazarbayev, who was president from Kazakhstan’s independence until he resigned in 2019 and anointed Tokayev as his successor.
Nazarbayev retained substantial power as head of the National Security Council. But Tokayev replaced him as council head amid the unrest. possibly aiming at a concession to mollify protesters. However, Nazarbayev adviser Aido Ukibay said Sunday that it was done at Nazarbayev's initiative, according to the Kazakh news agency KazTag.