PYATIGORSK. Jan 25 (Interfax) - Extremists killed 211 officers of law enforcement agencies, including 149 Interior Ministry officers, and injured another 405 in the North Caucasus last year, Sergei Chenchik, head of the Russian Interior Ministry's regional branch, said in Pyatigorsk on Friday.
"As many as 257 civilians were injured in attacks by militants. Of them, 78 died," he said.
A total of 391 militants, among them 50 gang leaders, were neutralized as a result of more than 2,500 security operations conducted in the North Caucasus in 2012, he said. Up to 461 militants and gang accomplices were detained. As many as 351 militants were neutralized in 2011.
Forty-four militants turned themselves in to police last year. A total of 105 bases and 386 caches containing ammunition and food supplies were destroyed.
Forty-seven terrorism-related crimes were prevented, Chenchik said.
A total of 352 terrorism-linked crimes were registered in the North Caucasus in 2012, a 13% decline as compared with the year before, he said.
"Last year saw 222 armed attacks, 116 explosions and 14 other crimes committed by militants, who set fire to shops and used cold steel arms to attack officers of law enforcement agencies," Chenchik said.
The number of such crimes dropped by 30% in Chechnya, 22% in Kabardino-Balkaria, and 16.9% in Dagestan last year, he said.