Death toll in terrorist attack in Russia's Dagestan rises to 22

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Death toll in a terrorist attack in Russia's Caucasian region of Dagestan rose to 22 after another policeman died in the hospital, the region's governor said on Monday.

"Unfortunately, as a result of the terrorist attacks, 22 people were killed, 21 directly during the terrorist attacks and one police officer died the next day from severe injuries," Sergey Melikov said at a meeting with representatives of civil society institutions in Dagestan's administrative center, the city of Makhachkala.

This brings the number of policemen killed in the attack to 17, one of the biggest death toll among Russia's law enforcement in past years.

Assailants on June 23 had attacked Orthodox churches, synagogues, and a traffic police post in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala in Dagestan.