Gunmen kill at least six people in synagogues and churches in the Russian Republic

At least six police officers and a priest were killed in attacks in two towns in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan after gunmen opened fire on a synagogue, at least two churches and a police post on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said.

At least a dozen police officers were injured in two apparently coordinated attacks, Russian state news agencies reported, citing local police officials. The shootings occurred in Dagestan’s capital Makhachkala and in Derbent, a city on the border with Azerbaijan.

It was unclear as of Sunday evening how the casualties were distributed between the two cities, but Derbent police officials said gunmen opened fire on a synagogue and a church, killing at least one police officer and wounding another. Vladimir Legoida, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, said in a Telegram post that Nikolai Kotelnikov, a local priest who had served in the church for 40 years, was killed in the attack.

Russian state news agencies published videos of the synagogue in flames in Derbent. In a statement, local police said the synagogue and church were “burned down.”

In Makhachkala, a sprawling city on the Caspian Sea, gunmen opened fire on a street that includes a synagogue. The synagogue was also attacked, according to RIA Novosti, a Russian state news agency, citing Jewish religious communities. The synagogue’s rabbi told RIA Novosti that no one was injured in the attack.

Videos released by the Dagestani Interior Ministry show that armed men were moving around the city, opening fire and forcing people to get out of their cars.

The Russian Investigative Committee, the Russian equivalent of the FBI, said it had launched a terrorism investigation.

Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim republic that also has a Jewish population. Violence has been increasing in the republic for at least three decades. But since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip in October, ethnic and religious tensions in the republic have increased.

That same month, an angry mob stormed the airport in Makhachkala in search of Jewish passengers on a flight from Israel. The incident shocked Jews in Russia and led to condemnation by the Israeli government.

Sergei Melikov, the head of state of Dagestan, said in a statement that Sunday’s attacks appeared to have been aimed at “destabilizing the public situation.”

At least four of the shooters were killed by police officers, local police said. Since some of the shooters are still at large, police said they have blocked the entrances to Makhachkala.

At least two of the attackers were detained by police, Russian news agency Interfax reported, citing law enforcement sources. Neither the number of attackers nor their identities were immediately disclosed.

The shootings came just months after four terrorists attacked a major concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, killing 145 people in a rampage and fire. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack; American authorities have attributed the attack to ISIS-K, an affiliate of the group.