<p>The former head of Kazakhstan's counterintelligence and anti-terror agency has been arrested on charges of attempted government overthrow in the wake of violent protests that the president has blamed on foreign-backed terrorists.</p>.<p>The arrest of Karim Masimov was announced Saturday by the National Security Committee, which Kasimov headed until he was removed this week by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.</p>.<p>Authorities say security forces killed 26 demonstrators in this week's unrest and that 18 law-enforcement officers died. More than 4,400 people have been arrested, the Interior Ministry said Saturday.</p>.<p>The protests in the Central Asian nation were the most widespread since Kazakhstan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.</p>.<p>The unrest began in the country's far west as protests against a sharp rise in prices for liquefied petroleum gas that is widely used as vehicle fuel, and spread to the country's largest city, Almaty, where demonstrators seized and burned government buildings.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>
<p>The former head of Kazakhstan's counterintelligence and anti-terror agency has been arrested on charges of attempted government overthrow in the wake of violent protests that the president has blamed on foreign-backed terrorists.</p>.<p>The arrest of Karim Masimov was announced Saturday by the National Security Committee, which Kasimov headed until he was removed this week by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.</p>.<p>Authorities say security forces killed 26 demonstrators in this week's unrest and that 18 law-enforcement officers died. More than 4,400 people have been arrested, the Interior Ministry said Saturday.</p>.<p>The protests in the Central Asian nation were the most widespread since Kazakhstan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.</p>.<p>The unrest began in the country's far west as protests against a sharp rise in prices for liquefied petroleum gas that is widely used as vehicle fuel, and spread to the country's largest city, Almaty, where demonstrators seized and burned government buildings.</p>.<p><strong>Watch the latest DH Videos here:</strong></p>