At least 15 people, including policemen and a priest, were killed and several others injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on synagogues, churches and a police post in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, the region’s governor said.
The attacks occurred simultaneously in Dagestan’s largest city Makhachkala and the coastal city of Derbent, and Governor Sergei Melnikov described them as “terrorist attacks”.
Police personnel killed four gunmen in Makhachkala and two in Derbent, officials said.
Melikov said the dead included several civilians besides police officers, including an Orthodox priest who had worked in Derbent for more than 40 years.
“This evening in Derbent and Makhachkala unknown attackers attempted to destabilize the situation in society,” Melikov wrote on Telegram.
He later added: “We know who is behind these terrorist attacks and what their purpose is.” He did not give specifics, citing the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We have to understand that war comes to our homes as well. We have felt it, but today we are facing it,” he said.
Melikov said that the “active phase” of the campaign in Derbent and Makhachkala was over and that “six bandits had been eliminated”.
He said authorities would “try to find all members of these sleeper cells who planned (the attacks) and those who are preparing, including those abroad.”
He also said June 24-26 have been declared days of mourning in Dagestan, with flags to fly at half-mast and all entertainment events cancelled.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had launched a criminal investigation into “terrorist acts” in Dagestan. However, there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.
Russian state media quoted law enforcement agencies as saying that the attackers included two sons of the head of the Sergokala district in central Dagestan, who have been taken into custody.
Officials in Derbent were quoted as saying that both the synagogue and the church were set on fire.
The incident comes three months after 145 people were killed in an attack by Islamic State on a concert hall near Moscow, the worst terror attack in Russia in years.
