World powers were Tuesday offering Iran a softening of sanctions in exchange for concessions over its controversial nuclear program, in crunch talks in Kazakhstan aimed at ending a decade of deadlock in the crisis.

The two-day meeting in the Kazakh city of Almaty comes as sanctions bite against the Islamic republic and Israel still refuses to rule out air strikes to knock out Iran's suspected nuclear weapons drive.

Iran is expecting a new offer from world powers in talks later this month in Kazakhstan over its controversial nuclear program, a member of its negotiating team said on Monday.

Iran and the P5+1 group of the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany are to resume negotiations in Almaty, Kazakhstan on February 26 after an eight-month hiatus, following up three failed meetings last year.

Iran announces Iran announced on Sunday fresh talks with world powers on its nuclear drive and said it was open to an offer from arch-foe the United States for two-way discussions if Washington's intention was "authentic".

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the six world powers planned to resume talks in Kazakhstan on February 25 and he insisted Iran had never pulled back from the negotiations.

All 21 people on board a domestic flight in Kazakhstan operated by SCAT airline died Tuesday when their jet crashed on approach to Almaty airport in thick fog, officials said.

"According to preliminary information, there were 16 passengers on board -- including one child -- and five crew members," the emergencies ministry said in a statement.

All 27 people on board a Kazakh military jet that crashed while carrying the Central Asian state's top border guard officials have died, the state security service said Wednesday.

"All 27 occupants of the aircraft, including seven crew members, have perished," the National Security Service (KNB) said in a statement.

A military aircraft carrying 27 people including top members of the Kazakhstan border guard service crashed Tuesday in the south of the country with all those on board feared dead, officials said.

The KNB security service said the An-72 military transport was carrying seven crew and 20 servicemen, including the acting head of the Kazakh border service Turganbek Stambekov.

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday agreed a deal with Kyrgyzstan that will allow Russia to keep a military base in the country until 2032 as Moscow and Washington jostle for influence in the region.

The agreement -- essentially a set of memorandums of intent ahead of formal treaties -- also foresees Russia wiping out nearly $500 million (380 million euros) in debt owed by Kyrgyzstan, a significant sum for the central Asian ex-Soviet state.

Kazakh police on Friday reported killing nine militants just outside the financial center Almaty in the latest surge of violence to hit the oil-rich and once stable Central Asian state.

The general prosecutor's office said security forces had raided the village of Tan about 15 kilometers southwest of Kazakhstan's biggest city after receiving reports that it was home to suspects in an earlier blast.

Freshly-crowned Olympic road race champion Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan said he was finally ready to retire from the sport.

"It's magnificent to end it like this," said Vinokourov, who beat Colombia's Rigoberto Uran to the gold medal after 249.5 km of racing.

Kazakhstan on Wednesday said it had thwarted acts of "terrorism" in its biggest city Almaty linked to an exiled banker who is a leading foe of President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The general prosecutors said in a statement that the security services averted the attacks "at the preparatory stage" that were masterminded by a Kazakh citizen named Alexander Pavlov.