MOSCOW: On Sunday, gunmen attacked a synagogue, two Orthodox churches, and a traffic police station in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, resulting in the deaths of at least seven police officers in shootouts.
Additionally, a local priest was killed by the attackers when they broke into an Orthodox church in Derbent. It was said that the city’s synagogue, which was also attacked, was set on fire.
A national guard officer was also injured in the string of gun and arson attacks in the southern city of Derbent and the regional capital of Makhachkala. At least 12 cops were hurt, including six in an attack on the traffic police station in Makhachkala.
According to representatives of the interior ministry in the area, four gunmen were taken out during the Makhachkala operation.
Seven law enforcement officers, a parish priest, and a national guard member were slain; four gunmen were reported dead as the Derbent operation came to an end.
The investigation committee for Russia declared that it has begun criminal investigations into “acts of terror” while the gunmen were still at large.
While gunfights were still going on in Derbent, witnesses in Makhachkala could hear gunfire close to a church, according to the TASS state news agency.
The National Antiterrorism Committee claimed in a statement to the news agency RIA Novosti that “armed attacks were carried out on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue, and a police check-point this evening in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala.”
“Preliminary information indicates that a Russian Orthodox Church priest and police officers were killed as a result of the terrorist attacks.”
Pentecost Sunday is a holy holiday observed by the Russian Orthodox Church on Sunday.
As per Gayana Gariyeva, a spokesperson for Dagestan’s interior ministry, RIA Novosti learned that a total of seven police officers had lost their lives and twelve others had been injured in the attacks.
The Russian National Guard reported that multiple officers were injured and one of its officers had died near Derbent.
Gariyeva continued, “A 66-year-old priest was killed also in Derbent.” The priest was identified by RGVK broadcaster as Nikolai Kotelnikov.
Synagogue is set ablaze
The Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia’s chairman of the public council, Boruch Gorin, posted on Telegram, saying, “The synagogue in Derbent is on fire.”
“The fire has not been able to be put out. A security guard and a policeman are slain.
According to Gorin, there was a possibility that “terrorists remained inside” the blazing synagogue, therefore firefighters had been ordered to evacuate. “There is shooting in the streets around the synagogue,” he continued.
The head of Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim area that borders Chechnya, Sergei Melikov, stated on Telegram that “unknown (attackers) made attempts to destabilize the situation in society this evening in Derbent and Makhachkala.” Police men from Daghestan confronted them.
A few hours later, the Russian counterterrorism agency declared that one of the two cities it had targeted had seen the end of the “active phase” of its operation against gunmen who had carried out fatal attacks in Dagestan.
The stalemate in Makhachkala, the region’s largest city, persisted, but the National Anti-terrorism Committee declared in a statement to Russian news agencies that “in Derbent, the active phase of the counter-terrorist operation is completed.”
