ALMATY — Dozens of protesters were killed by police on Wednesday night as they tried to seize administrative buildings in Kazakhstan, police said.

"Last night, extremist forces tried to storm administrative buildings, the Almaty city police department, as well as local departments and police stations," police spokesman Saltanat Azirbek was quoted as saying by the Interfax-Kazakhstan, TASS and Ria Novosti agencies.

"Dozens of assailants have been eliminated and their identities are being identified," he added.

Azirbek said an "anti-terrorist" operation was underway in one of the districts of Almaty, the economic capital of the Central Asian country, where the riots were most violent.

More than 1,000 people have also been injured in the protests, the health ministry said on state television.

"Nearly 400 of them were hospitalized and 62 people are in intensive care," deputy minister Ajar Guiniat told Khabar-24 television, as quoted by the Interfax and TASS agencies.

The announcements come after the arrival in the country of peacekeeping troops from a Russian-led military alliance following a request from the country's president as anti-government protests continued.

Demonstrations across Kazakhstan started on Sunday over a near-doubling of gas prices but have since grown to include other grievances including poor living conditions in some areas, as well as 30 years under the rule of the same party since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. — Agencies