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Dagestan lies east of Chechnya

Gunmen in Russia’s Dagestan attack churches, synagogue and police post

Gunmen on Sunday attacked synagogues and churches in Russia's North Caucasus region of Dagestan, killing a priest, six police officers, and a member of the national guard, security officials said.


Issued on: 23/06/2024 - 21:44
2 min

Photo taken from video released by Golos Dagestana shows smoke rises following an attack in Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia, June 23, 2024.

© Golos Dagestana via AP

The attacks took place in Dagestan's largest city of Makhachkala and in the coastal city of Derbent, where gunfights were ongoing.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it had opened criminal probes over "acts of terror", while the hunt for the gunmen was ongoing.

Witnesses could hear shooting near a church in Makhachkala while shootouts were continuing in Derbent, the TASS state news agency reported. Dagestan's interior ministry said it had killed two of the gunmen in Makhachkala.


Sunday is a religious holiday in the Russian Orthodox Church called Pentecost Sunday. Dagestan is a largely Muslim region of Russia, neighbouring Chechnya.

"This evening in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala armed attacks were carried out on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police check-point," said the National Antiterrorism Committee in a statement to RIA Novosti news agency.

"As a result of the terrorist attacks, according to preliminary information, a priest from the Russian Orthodox Church and police officers were killed."

In all, six police officers had been killed and another 12 wounded in the attacks, the spokeswoman for Dagestan's interior ministry, Gayana Gariyeva, told RIA Novosti.

Russia's National Guard said one of its officers had been killed in Derbent and several others wounded.

A 66-year-old priest was killed in Derbent, the press secretary of Dagestan's interior ministry, Gariyeva told the agency.
Synagogues on fire

Dagestan's RGVK broadcaster named the priest as Nikolai Kotelnikov,saying he had served more than 40 years in Derbent.

"The synagogue in Derbent is on fire," the chairman of the public council of Russia's Federation of Jewish Communities, Boruch Gorin wrote on Telegram.

"It has not been possible to extinguish the fire. Two are killed: a policeman and a security guard".

He added: "The synagogue in Makhachkala has also been set on fire and burnt down."

Gorin wrote that in Derbent, firefighters had been told to leave the burning synagogue because of the risk that "terrorists remained inside".

He added: "There is shooting in the streets around the synagogue".

The leader of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, wrote on Telegram: "This evening in Derbent and Makhachkala unknown (attackers) made attempts to destabilise the situation in society.

"They were confronted by Dagestani police officers."

Russia's FSB security service in April said it had arrested four people in Dagestan on suspicion of plotting a deadly attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall concert venue in March, which was claimed by Islamic State.

Militants from Dagestan are known to have travelled to join the Islamic State group in Syria.

In 2015, the group declared it had established a "franchise" in the North Caucasus.

Dagestan lies east of Chechnya where Russian authorities battled separatists in two brutal wars, first in 1994-1996 and then in 1999-2000.

After the defeat of Chechen insurgents, Russian authorities have been locked in a simmering conflict with Islamist militants from across the North Caucasus that has killed scores of civilians and police.

(AFP)

Gunmen in Russia's Dagestan conduct deadly attacks on churches, synagogue, police post

Issued on: 23/06/2024 - 

Gunmen opened fire at a synagogue, an Orthodox church and a police post in Russia's North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, killing six policemen and injuring 12, the region's Russian news agencies quoted the interior ministry as saying.

02:03  Video by FRANCE 24

Priest, 15 security personnel killed in attacks on synagogue, church in Russia's Dagestan

Derbent occupies the narrow gateway between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains. Photo by lnur Neciyev/Wikimedia Commons


June 23 (UPI) -- At least 15 police officers, a priest and an unknown number of civilians died in an attack on two Orthodox churches and a synagogue in Russia's majority Muslim Republic of Dagestan, the national counterterrorism agency and police said Sunday.

The attacks were in the cities Derbent and Makhachkala. Also, a police traffic stop in Makhachkala was hit. The region is in the southernmost tip of Russia, about 2,000 miles south of Moscow, along the Caspian Sea.

Attackers used automatic rifles around 5:50 p.m. local time at the synagogue in Derbent, just 40 minutes before evening prayers, then drove away in a white Volkswagen Polo car, officials reported. The synagogue then was set on fire by "terrorists," according to TASS News Agency.

Six of the attackers are dead, TASS reported.


"Further operative and search and investigative action will continue until detecting all the participants of sleeper cells, which were definitely prepared in particular from abroad," Sergey Melikov, head of the Dagestan Republic, said.

Father Nikolai, a 66-year-old priest at the Orthodox church, died in a knife attack, Shamil Khadulaev, the chairman of Dagestan's Public Monitoring Commission, said in a report by TASS.

Priests locked themselves inside the church and were waiting for help.

A security guard at the Orthodox church in Makhachkala was also killed, Khadulaev said.

"As far as is known, there were no worshipers in the synagogues at the time of the attack, and there are no known casualties from the Jewish community," according to a statement from the Israeli foreign ministry.

Elsewhere, a group of unknown assailants attacked the traffic police post in the regional capital of Makhachkala.

Residents of Makhachkala were asked to remain in their homes.

"The Russian Jewish Congress offers condolences to the families of those killed and wishes the soonest recovery to those hurt," it said in a statement. "We call on the authorities to take the toughest measures against the bandits and murderers who committed this atrocious crime."

A terror investigation has been launched under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Republic of Dagestan said.

"All the circumstances of the incident and the persons involved in the terrorist attacks are being established, and their actions will be given a legal assessment," the investigative directorate statement said.

More than 3.1 million people live in the republic, which is ethnically diverse.

"The Muftiyat of the Republic of Dagestan expresses sincere words of condolences to the families and friends of the victims," the centralized Islamic organization said in a statment on Telegram.

"We mourn with you and ask the Almighty to grant you patience. We also ask the Merciful Lord to grant speedy healing to all those affected."

Three days of mourning have been declared in Dagestan, TASS reported.