ALMATY (Reuters). -The bodies 225 persons, 19 of them security officers, who were killed during unrest last week in Kazakhstan were transferred to various morgues in the country by the prosecutor’s general on Saturday.

Serik Shalabayev (head of the criminal prosecution in the prosecutor’s office) stated that this figure includes civilians as well as armed “bandits”, who were killed by security force forces.

The exact breakdown was not provided by him, but he indicated that they could be changed later.

Following a spike in petrol prices, violence broke out in Central Asian oil-producing states. Shalabayev said that this was the worst violence in post-Soviet times.

Shalabayev claimed that over 50,000 people took part in the unrest throughout the former Soviet Republic at its peak Jan. 5, when many stormed buildings, tore down cars and destroyed banks and shops across several cities.

President Kassym Jomart Tokayev began to turn to Russia’s military alliance for assistance during unrest. He also sidelined Nursultan Nazarbayev, his patron, by taking control of the national security council.

Tokayev, after hearing complaints of torture and beatings suffered by detainees in the aftermath, ordered police to stop abuses on Saturday and instructed prosecutors to allow those not guilty to use their discretion.