A police officer injured in the attacks terrorists perpetrated Last Sunday in the Russian North Caucasian republic of Dagestan, he died last night in the hospital, bringing the number of fatalities from the attacks to 21, local authorities reported today.
"One of the victims of the terrorist attack, a police officer, died last night in the hospital," said a source from the Dagestan emergency services quoted by the official Russian agency TASS.
Previously, the Ministry of Health of Dagestan reported that 20 people, 15 police officers and five civilians, died in the attacks carried out in the cities of Debent and Makhachkala, the Dagestan capital.
The attacks occurred in the historic Dagestan town of Derbent, considered the oldest city in Russia and located on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
First, the attackers attacked the Church of the Intercession, where a 66-year-old priest died, and then the Kele-Numaz Synagogue, which was consumed by fire, after which they engaged in shootouts with the police.
At the same time, terrorists attacked the Ascension Cathedral in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, where about twenty people barricaded themselves and blocked the doors; and a synagogue that was nearby.
In addition, they also attacked several police posts, both in those two cities and in the town of Sergokal. Health authorities estimate the injured at almost fifty, mostly police officers, seven of them seriously.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, five of the attackers were killed by security forces.
The head of the republic, Sergei Melikov, yesterday declared three days of mourning throughout the territory of Dagestan. EFE