MOSCOW, April 11, (RAPSI) – Three gunmen killed in an armed attack on a police station in Stavropol region in southern Russia, which occurred on Monday, have been identified, TASS news agency reported, citing undisclosed sources in the Investigative Committee.

"Thanks to prompt cooperation of investigators of the Russian Investigative Committee and operatives of the regional police and Federal Security Service (FSB) departments the three men who staged today's attack on the administrative police building of the Novoselitsky district and later blew themselves up have been identified," the Investigative Committee said. The men were identified as Zaur Akayev, born in 1983, Ramazan Khaibulayev, born in 1991, and Isai Abdulatipov, born in 1996.

Akayev, Khaibulayev and Abdulatipov tried to smash on Monday in the police station using hand grenades. Policemen in the building opened return fire, and the attackers set off some explosive devices killing themselves. 

No police officers or civilians were killed in the attack. However, “technical damage was done to the police station and cars parked nearby,” an Investigative Committee’s statement released today says.

Earlier in the day, the Russia’s Investigative Committee had informed that a criminal case was opened over an attempt on lives of law enforcement officers in relation to the attack.

Rapid deployment units, security forces, law and order agencies, and bomb-disposal experts have been reportedly put on high alert.

After the attack had been reported, nearby schools and hospitals were evacuated. Additional security measures were introduced across the region, news agencies quoted Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov as saying.

It remains unknown whether or not the attackers were members of an Islamic State (IS), an organization prohibited in Russia. IS has vowed revenge after Russia launched a bombing campaign in Syria last September. In November, a Russian passenger jet was blown up over Egypt by a bomb planted by an Islamic State affiliate. In December, the IS has claimed responsibility for a deadly shooting in Derbent, a city in the North Caucacus republic of Dagestan.