ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan is prosecuting four senior police officers for using excessive force against rioters in an oil town, where 17 people were killed in some of the country's worst violence in decades.

A regional deputy police head who coordinated the action in Zhanaozen is being sued for dereliction of duty, while three other senior officers will stand trial for abuse of power, the Kazakh Prosecutor General's Office said.

A seven-month labor dispute between fired oilmen and their employers erupted into fierce clashes with police in the western oil city of Zhanaozen on Dec. 16. Officially, 16 people were killed that day and another person died in clashes in a nearby village the following day.

(Reuters)