Two powerful blasts have rocked the headquarters of President Nursultan Nazarbayev's ruling Otan party in Almaty's central district

Two powerful blasts have rocked the headquarters of President Nursultan Nazarbayev's ruling Otan (Fatherland) party in Almaty's central district. A spokeswoman for the Emergencies Agency and witnesses said on Sunday they heard one blast followed by another five minutes later. The headquarters sits on a busy thoroughfare in the centre of Kazakhstan's commercial capital. "As far as we know, the blasts have hit the Otan headquarters," the spokeswoman said, declining to give details. Alexander Pavlov, an Otan deputy chairman, confirmed that the headquarters had been hit by explosions but declined to comment further. It was not immediately clear what had caused the blasts, though the area was quickly swarming with special forces and plainclothes officers, who cordoned off the 3-storey building.