Gunmen in Russian Dagestan kill police and priest in ‘terrorist attack’

Gunmen attacked churches and synagogues in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, killing at least eight police officers and national guard members and a priest, officials said.

The unidentified gunmen launched simultaneous attacks in Dagestan’s largest city, Makhachkala, and the coastal city of Derbent.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had launched a criminal investigation into “terrorist acts” in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim region of Russia bordering Chechnya.

Russian authorities said police killed four gunmen in Makhachkala and two in Derbent.

“This evening, armed attacks were carried out on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police checkpoint in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala,” the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement to the RIA Novosti news agency.

“According to preliminary information, a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church and police officers were killed as a result of the terrorist attacks.”

The committee later announced that the “active” phase of the operation against the attackers in Derbent had ended.

In total, six officers were killed and twelve injured in the attacks, Dagestani Interior Ministry spokeswoman Gayana Gariyeva told RIA Novosti.

The ministry later added that a local police chief had died from his injuries.

Meanwhile, the Russian National Guard said one of its officers was killed in Derbent and several others were injured.

In another attack, armed men shot at a police car, the Dagestani Interior Ministry said, and an officer was injured in Sergokal, a village 65 kilometers from Makhachkala.

A law enforcement source said the Sergokal district chief was being questioned about the possible involvement of his sons in the attacks, RIA Novosti reported.

The Russian Orthodox Church said its Archpriest Nikolai Kotelnikov was “brutally murdered” in Derbent.

– Synagogues burn –

In the Russian Orthodox Church, Sunday is a religious holiday, Pentecost Sunday.

Dagestan’s Interior Ministry said 19 people had sought shelter in a church in Makhachkala and were later brought to safety.

In both cities, armed men also carried out attacks on synagogues.

“The synagogue in Derbent is burning,” wrote the chairman of the Public Council of the Russian Federation of Jewish Communities, Boruch Gorin, on Telegram.

“The synagogue in Makhachkala was also set on fire and burned down,” he said.

Makhachkala Rabbi Rami Davidov later told RIA Novosti that no one was killed or injured there.

The Russian Jewish Congress said on its website that the Derbent synagogue was attacked about 40 minutes before evening prayers.

Gunmen shot at police and security forces and threw Molotov cocktails, it was reported. The attack in Makhachkala was similar.

The President of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, wrote on Telegram: “This evening in Derbent and Makhachkala, unknown persons (attackers) tried to destabilize the situation in society.”

The state news agency TASS quoted a law enforcement source as saying that “the armed men who carried out the attacks in Makhachkala and Derbent are supporters of an international terrorist organization,” without naming them.

The Russian secret service FSB announced in April that it had arrested four people in Dagestan. They are accused of planning the deadly attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Moscow in March, which the terrorist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for.

Militants from Dagestan are known to have joined ISIS in Syria, and in 2015 the group announced that it had established a branch in the North Caucasus.

Dagestan lies east of Chechnya, where Russian authorities fought two brutal wars against separatists, first from 1994 to 1996 and then from 1999 to 2000.

Since the defeat of the Chechen insurgents, Russian authorities have been embroiled in a simmering conflict with Islamist militants from across the North Caucasus, which has left scores of civilians and police officers dead.

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