ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Prosecutors in Kazakhstan say a soldier arrested on suspicion of murdering 14 of his colleagues and a park ranger at a remote frontier outpost last week has confessed to the killings.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement Thursday that Vladislav Chelakh admitted to carrying out the act in a state of mental confusion following a dispute at the station on the border with China.
The statement says the 20-year-old Chelakh stated he had acted alone while his victims were asleep. Chelakh was found several days later in a shepherd’s hut with a handgun and electronic equipment belonging to his colleagues.
The killings have provoked shock across Kazakhstan.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev initially described the incident as an act of terrorism.
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