This screengrab image taken from video launched on June 23, 2024 by Russian state information company RIA Novosti exhibits an space sealed off by Police following lethal assaults on church buildings and a synagogue in Russia’s North Caucasus area of Dagestan. | AFP PHOTO/RIA NOVOSTI
Gunmen attacked church buildings and synagogues in Russia’s North Caucasus area of Dagestan on Sunday, killing at the least eight police and nationwide guard officers and a priest, officers mentioned.
The unidentified gunmen launched simultaneous assaults in Dagestan’s largest metropolis of Makhachkala and within the coastal metropolis of Derbent.
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Russia’s Investigative Committee mentioned it had opened legal probes over “acts of terror” in Dagestan, a largely Muslim area of Russia neighbouring Chechnya.
Russian officers mentioned police had killed 4 gunmen in Makhachkala and two in Derbent.
“This night within the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala armed assaults had been carried out on two Orthodox church buildings, a synagogue and a police checkpoint,” the Nationwide Anti-terrorism Committee mentioned in a press release to RIA Novosti information company.
“On account of the terrorist assaults, in response to preliminary info, a priest from the Russian Orthodox Church and cops had been killed.”
The committee later mentioned the “energetic” part of the operation in opposition to attackers in Derbent had ended.
In all, six officers had been killed and 12 wounded within the assaults, the spokeswoman for Dagestan’s inside ministry, Gayana Gariyeva, advised RIA Novosti.
The ministry later added {that a} native police chief had died from his wounds.
Russia’s Nationwide Guard in the meantime mentioned one in every of its officers had been killed in Derbent and a number of other others wounded.
In a separate assault, the Dagestan inside ministry mentioned that in a village 65 kilometres (40 miles) from Makhachkala, known as Sergokal, gunmen had shot at a police automobile, wounding one officer.
A legislation enforcement supply mentioned Sergokal district chief was being questioned over his sons’ potential involvement within the assaults, RIA Novosti reported.
The Russian Orthodox Church mentioned its archpriest Nikolai Kotelnikov was “brutally killed” in Derbent.
Synagogues on fireplace
Sunday is a non secular vacation, Pentecost Sunday, within the Russian Orthodox Church.
Dagestan’s inside ministry mentioned 19 individuals took shelter inside a church in Makhachkala and had been later led out to security.
Gunmen additionally attacked synagogues in each cities.
“The synagogue in Derbent is on fireplace,” the chairman of the general public council of Russia’s Federation of Jewish Communities, Boruch Gorin, wrote on Telegram.
“The synagogue in Makhachkala has additionally been set on fireplace and burnt down,” he mentioned.
The rabbi of Makhachkala, Rami Davidov, later advised RIA Novosti that nobody was killed or injured there.
The Russian Jewish Congress mentioned on its web site the Derbent synagogue was attacked about 40 minutes earlier than night prayers.
Gunmen fired at police and safety guards and threw in Molotov cocktails, it mentioned, including that the assault in Makhachkala was related.
The chief of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, wrote on Telegram: “This night in Derbent and Makhachkala unknown (attackers) made makes an attempt to destabilise the state of affairs in society.”
State information company TASS cited a legislation enforcement supply as saying the “gunmen who carried out assaults in Makhachkala and Derbent are supporters of a world terrorist organisation”, with out naming it.
Russia’s FSB safety service in April mentioned it had arrested 4 individuals in Dagestan on suspicion of plotting the lethal assault on Moscow’s Crocus Metropolis Corridor live performance venue in March, which was claimed by the Islamic State group.
Militants from Dagestan are recognized to have travelled to affix IS in Syria, and in 2015, the group declared it had established a “franchise” within the North Caucasus.
Dagestan lies east of Chechnya, the place Russian authorities battled separatists in two brutal wars, first in 1994-1996 after which in 1999-2000.
Because the defeat of Chechen insurgents, Russian authorities have been locked in a simmering battle with Islamist militants from throughout the North Caucasus that has killed scores of civilians and police.
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