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Twin blasts shake up Kazakhstan's oil rich city of Atyrau, leaving a suspected suicide bomber dead. The attacks come a week after a previously unknown militant jihadist group published threats over the banning of prayer rooms in government buildings.

Two blasts rip through the city of Atyrau in western Kazakhstan on Monday, killing a suspected suicide bomber but otherwise causing little damage.

[Galymzhan Kulmanov, Acting Head, Atyrau Public Prosecution Dept.]:
"At approximately 9:50 local time, in an abandoned lot near building number 30 in the Sary-Arka micro district, an unidentified man set off an unidentified explosive device. As a result (of the blast) he died on the spot. In a nearby occupied building, there were partially destroyed windows and there was no other damage or victims identified at this point."

The first blast occurred near an administrative building in the Caspian port city and oil hub. The explosive device was planted in a trash bin.

An hour later there was a large blast near the offices of the city's prosecutors, police and national safety committee.

The explosions are the latest to hit oil-rich Kazakhstan, a normally peaceful ex-Soviet country in Central Asia with a Muslim majority.

In May two blasts killed several people.

A week ago, a previously unknown Islamist group threatened Kazakhstan in a video unless it abolished a new law banning prayer rooms in state buildings.

Atyrau is an administrative and residential center for various international oil groups.