Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said Almaty airport had been seized by what he described as “terrorists” on Wednesday evening, writes DW.

He also said five airplanes had been hijacked.

“Terrorist gangs are seizing large infrastructure facilities, in particular in the Almaty airport, five planes, including foreign planes”, - he said. “Almaty has been attacked, destroyed and vandalized”.

He also said he had appealed for help to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on Facebook that CSTO peacekeepers would be sent to Kazakhstan for a limited time to help stabilize the situation.

According to the Kazakh interior ministry, at least eight security forces’ members have been killed. No figures were released on civilian casualties.