Armed militants in Dagestan kill priest and six police officers

MOSCOW (AP) — Armed militants attacked two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a traffic police post in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan, killing a priest, a church security guard and at least six police officers, Russian state news agency Tass reported Sunday.

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement that a Russian Orthodox priest and police officers were killed in the “terrorist” attacks.

The Dagestani Interior Ministry said a group of armed men had opened fire on a synagogue and a church in the Caspian Sea city of Derbent. The attackers fled and a search was underway, the ministry said in a statement. Tass reported that the church and synagogue were set on fire in the attack.

Almost simultaneously, reports emerged of an attack on a traffic police post in the capital of the predominantly Muslim Makhachkala region. According to RIA Novosti, six police officers were killed and twelve others injured.

Shamil Khadulaev, deputy chairman of the Dagestan Public Monitoring Commission, said, citing RIA Novosti, that a priest in Derbent and a security guard at a church in Makhachkala were killed.

According to the Muftiate of Dagestan, a state-backed spiritual administration body, nine people were killed in the attacks, including seven police officers, while 25 were injured.

Four militants were “eliminated” in Makhachkala, the Dagestani Interior Ministry said.

There were no immediate announcements about the attacks, but some politicians in Dagestan blamed Ukraine and NATO.

“There is no doubt that these terrorist attacks are somehow connected with the secret services of Ukraine and NATO countries,” Dagestani MP Abdulkhakim Gadzhiyev wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian officials initially made no comment on the attacks.

“What happened looks like a disgusting provocation and an attempt to sow sectarian discord,” said President Ramzan Kadyrov of neighboring Chechnya.