A court in Kyrgyzstan has ordered the country's former president to be held in pretrial detention after he was seized from his compound in raids that left one person dead and plunged the country in crisis. The Central Asian state, which has seen two revolutions in less than two decades, is caught in a standoff between ex-leader Almazbek Atambayev and his protege-turned-foe President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

Special forces this week launched two major operations to take Atambayev from his residence outside the capital Bishkek after he refused to be questioned in cases that supporters say are politically motivated. The first raid failed after descending into deadly violence, but in the second on Thursday he was detained.

A court in Bishkek late Thursday ordered the 62-year-old Atambayev held behind bars until August 26, a court spokesman said, but did not specify what he had been charged with.