Members of the special purpose division demonstrate a "fight with a group of terrorists" during a show for townspeople in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, August 13, 2017. (REUTERS PHOTO)

MOSCOW, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Russian law enforcement agencies foiled 19 terrorist attack attempts in the first six months of the year, a Russian official said Friday.

The number of extremist acts decreased from the same period last year, said First Deputy Prosecutor General Alexander Buksman at a meeting of senior prosecution officials.

The Prosecutor General's Office said Wednesday that the number of terrorism-related crimes in Russia dropped 14 percent year on year in January-June to 968.

Most of such crimes were committed in North Caucasus, a hotbed of insurgency plagued for years by repeated violent attacks against governmental and military agencies and civilians.

Russia has stepped up law enforcement efforts nationwide since a deadly bomb attack in the St. Petersburg metro in April 2017.