A 66-year-old priest, a church guard, a synagogue guard and at least six policemen were killed in a series of armed attacks on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police post in the Dagestan capital of Makhachkala and the city of Derbent in Russia’s North Caucasus, TASS reported.
Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim Russian region adjacent to Chechnya, which is also close to Georgia and Azerbaijan.
“At the moment, according to the available information, 6 police officers have been killed, 12 have been wounded. There are militants detained,” reported the headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the region.
The first reports of automatic weapons fire were reported from the area of the church and synagogue in the city of Derbent. The Jewish temple was then set on fire, but the fire was contained by several firefighting teams. However, the guard of the synagogue was killed in the attack.
This was followed by a report from the capital Makhachkala about open shooting at a Traffic Police post, in which one uniformed officer was killed and six others were injured.
Two of the attackers were killed, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan announced. According to the latest data, 16 were injured in the attacks.
A counter-terrorist operation has been announced in the Caucasian republic.
All mass events in Derbent have been cancelled. The regional capital Makhachkala has been blocked by security services.
The Investigative Committee has opened criminal proceedings for a terrorist act in connection with the attacks in Makhachkala and Derbent. Work on neutralizing all participants in the attacks continues.
An operational headquarters was set up, and the President of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, described the attacks as attempts to destabilize society. Melikov called on the citizens of the republic to remain calm.
Illustrative Photo of Datuna Church, Datuna, Dagestan (Russia) by Yaroslav Chaadaev: https://www.pexels.com/photo/datuna-church-datuna-dagestan-russia-13964894/.
