Alikhan Smailov named Kazakhstan's prime minister
Kazakh security forces have detained 9,900 people over the unrest, Kazakhstan's interior ministry
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev nominated Alikhan Smailov for prime minister on Tuesday, and the lower house of parliament swiftly voted him in during a session broadcast live on state television.
Smailov, 49, served as first deputy prime minister in the previous cabinet which Tokayev dismissed last week amid violent unrest in the oil-rich Central Asian nation.
Kazakh security forces have detained 9,900 people over the unrest, Kazakhstan's interior ministry said on Tuesday.
The oil-rich former Soviet republic says government buildings were attacked in several major cities after initially peaceful protests against hikes in the price of car fuel turned violent.
Tokayev has said Islamist militants from regional nations and Afghanistan, as well as the Middle East, were among the attackers.
He dismissed his cabinet amid the unrest, along with a number of security officials and detained on suspicion of treason the most senior among them, Karim Masimov, a former head of the national security committee.
Tokayev defended his decision to invite Russian-led troops into the country and said that doubts over the legitimacy of that mission stemmed from a lack of information.
Kazakhstan would soon provide proof to the international community about what had happened, he said. Sixteen members of the security forces were killed, while the number of civilian casualties is still being checked, he said.
TAKEOVER
The uprising in Kazkahstan began as protests against a New Year's Day fuel price hike quickly spread last week into nationwide demonstrations against the government and ex-leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, 81. The longest-serving ruler of a former Soviet state, he handed the presidency to Tokayev three years ago but was widely believed to have kept the reins of power.
"The main blow was directed against (the city of) Almaty. The fall of this city would have paved the way for a takeover of the densely populated south and then the whole country," Tokayev said. "Then they planned to seize the capital."
Kazakhstan has been ruled firmly and with little organised political opposition since independence, but was seen for decades as far less volatile and repressive than its Central Asian neighbours. The violence came as a shock to Almaty residents, who shared a poem online lamenting how the "garden city" had been "raped, seized, trampled and torched".
Tokayev said a large-scale counter-terrorism operation would soon end, along with a CSTO mission that he said numbered 2,030 troops and 250 pieces of military hardware.
The Kazakh foreign ministry said in a statement the attackers included "individuals who have military combat zone experience in the ranks of radical Islamist groups" without providing further details.
The National Security Committee, successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said the situation had stabilised and that security forces had restored control.
Last week Tokayev sacked the head of the committee, Karim Massimov, and his top deputy, Nazarbayev's nephew. Masimov has since been detained on suspicion of treason. Nazarbayev himself has not been heard from, and was stripped of a security post he had retained after giving up the presidency.
Monday was declared a day of mourning for those killed in the unrest. Russian and state media, citing a government social media post, have reported that 164 people had been killed. Health and police authorities have not confirmed that figure, and the original social media post has been deleted.
A former Kazakh prime minister, Akezhan Kazhegeldin, told Reuters on Sunday that Tokayev must move fast to consolidate his grip after appearing to break with Nazarbayev.
