Two of the suicide bombers thought to be responsible for the recent attacks in Russia’s Volgograd in December 2013 have been identified, according to the National Anti-Terrorism Committee.

Their alleged accomplices, who are thought to have aided their travel to Volgograd, have been detained. Two terrorist attacks took place in the space of just over 24 hours. The first one - a huge blast at the Volgograd railway station on December 29; the second happened a day later inside a packed city bus. More than 30 lives were claimed in the attacks, and dozens of people were injured.

“In the course of the investigation of the terrorist attacks in Volgograd on the December 29 and 30, 2013, our leads resulted in the identities of two suicide bombers of the Buynaksk terrorist group – Asker Samedov and Suleyman Magomedov,” a committee official told the press.

However, those responsible for planning the terrorist attacks may still be at large, the anti-terrorism committee said. A search is underway.

Dagestan has been the scene of several anti-terrorist operations in recent times, three of them on January 22 leading to the elimination of a prominent militant leader responsible for a series of bombings and attacks on the police, Eldar Magatov.

Member of the so-called Babayurtovskaya gang, Magatov was hiding out in rural Dagestan.

A total of three operations by Russia's security forces were carried out in an attempt to apprehend the terrorist.

These operations are a reminder of how the region is. Blasts, shootouts and other violence are a common occurrence as extremists face off against security forces on almost a daily basis.

Dagestan, as well as neighboring Chechnya and Ingushetia - which at one point or another also harbored Dagestan's gang members - have all had their civilian populations live in fear of terrorism for some time now.

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