The first months of the new government were accompanied by mass terror perpetrated by the communists controlling the interior and justice ministries. At the behest of Communist leaders Traicho Kostov, Valko Chervenkov and Anton Yugov, the Communist Party set up special "troika" units that systematically massacred thousands, and numerous local massacres were carried out. According to various estimates, between 2,000 and 30,000 people were killed by the end of November. In mid-November, the Council of Ministers publicly declared against the lynchings, but they were not stopped in practice.Nedev 2007, pp. 657–658
