Eight people were killed and 137 wounded in a series of clashes across several villages in Kazakhstan on Saturday, Interior Minister Yerlan Turgumbayev said. 

Around 70 people were involved in an initial brawl, the minister said, with around 300 more arriving later from nearby villages. Dozens of houses and cars were also destroyed.

Two police officers were wounded by gunfire as police tried to take control of the situation. The police have arrested 49 people and seized two shotguns. 

"The most important thing now is to calm the population down," President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in a message, adding that justice will be served to anyone spreading rumors and disinformation, or inciting hatred among various ethnic groups.

The attacks took place in Kazakhstan's southern Zhambyl province, about three hours by car from Almaty, the largest city in the country of 19 million.

Video shows villages burning

Video emerged on social media on Saturday showing groups of young men, some wielding clubs, walking down a road as buildings burn nearby. 

The region is home to a significant Dungan population, an ethnically Chinese Muslim minority group. The ethnic group calling themselves Kazakhs are widely believed to have carried out the attacks on the Dungan, though the authorities have not confirmed the origin of the conflict. 

Security forces have restored calm in the villages, President Tokayev said in a statement issued at an emergency government session. 

Tokayev also called for an investigation and for the prosecution of individuals found to be spreading "provocative rumors and disinformation" about ethnic minorities.

The Minister of Information and Public Accord Dauren Abayev said that a large outdoor market in Almaty had been closed following "calls for violence" there. 

kp,ed/rc (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

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