Russia’s Dagestan mourns priests and police officers killed in gunman attack | WTAQ News Talk | 97.5 FM · 1360 AM

(Reuters) – Three days of national mourning have been in place in Russia’s Dagestan since Monday after gunmen killed several police officers, an Orthodox priest and several other people in attacks on synagogues and churches in two towns in the North Caucasus region on Sunday.

“This is a tragic day for Dagestan and the whole country,” said Sergei Melikov, governor of the Dagestan region, in a video posted on the messaging app Telegram early Monday.

It was unclear how many people died in total in the simultaneous attacks in the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent.

Melikov said more than 15 police officers had fallen victim to a “terrorist attack,” but did not specify how many police officers were killed and how many were injured. The Russian news agency Interfax reported that at least 15 police officers were killed.

The attacks came three months after 145 people were killed in an attack on a concert hall near Moscow, which the Islamic State claimed responsibility for, the worst such attack in Russia in years.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks in the unstable North Caucasus region.

“We know who is behind the organization of the terrorist attacks and what their goal was,” Melikov said, without giving further details. The search for the perpetrators will continue until all of them are identified, he added.

Russia’s state media quoted law enforcement authorities as saying that two sons of the head of the Sergokala district in central Dagestan were among the attackers and had been detained by investigators.

Melikov said several civilians were among the dead, including an Orthodox priest who had worked in Derbent for more than 40 years. The priest, Nikolai Kotelnikov, was “brutally murdered,” a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church said on Telegram.

Six of the gunmen were shot dead during the incidents, Melikov said. Russian state news agencies quoted the National Anti-Terrorism Committee as saying five of the gunmen were killed.

Reuters could not independently verify reports on how many people or gunmen were killed in the attacks.

June 24 to 26 have been declared days of mourning in Dagestan, Melikov said. Flags have been flown at half-mast and all entertainment events have been cancelled.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; editing by Lincoln Feast.)