MOSCOW, February 15 - RAPSI. The number of extremist crimes in Dagestan has skyrocketed over the past year, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office reported on Friday.

"The number of extremist crimes is increasing yearly in the region. In 2012, 295 extremist crimes were registered, or a threefold growth," the statement said.

Last year, some 200 infringements of the lives of law enforcement officers and servicemen were registered - 115 officers were killed and 228 were wounded. The number of civilians who suffered from these crimes totaled roughly 200.

In late January, President Vladimir Putin dismissed Dagestan head Magomedsalam Magomedov, appointing him as the Kremlin's deputy chief of staff.

The latest terrorist attack in Dagestan occurred on Thursday in Khasavyurt when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a police post, leaving three killed, six injured and one missing. The victims are police officers seconded to Dagestan from the Vologda region. The alleged organisers were killed on the day of the attack.