MOSCOW: Gunmen attacked a synagogue and churches on Sunday, killing a priest and six police officers in Russia's Caucasus region of Dagestan, the national counterterrorism agency and police said.
The attacks took place in Makhachkala, Dagestan's largest city, and the coastal city of Derbent.
Russia's Investigative Committee said it had opened criminal investigations into “acts of terrorism.”
Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim region of Russia bordering Georgia and Azerbaijan.
“This afternoon in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala, armed attacks were carried out against two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police checkpoint,” the National Anti-Terrorist Committee said in a statement to 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.”
In total, six police officers were killed and 12 others were wounded in the attacks, Dagestan Interior Ministry spokesperson Gayana Gariyeva said. RIA Novosti.
A 66-year-old priest was murdered in Derbent, the press secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan, Gariyeva, told the agency.
“The Derbent synagogue is on fire,” the president of the public council of the Russian Federation of Jewish Communities, Boruch Gorin, wrote on Telegram.
“The fire could not be put out. There are two dead: a police officer and a security guard.”
He added: “The Makhachkala synagogue was also set on fire and burned. During the attack on the Orthodox church in Derbent, the priest's throat was beheaded.”
Dagestan leader Sergei Melikov wrote on Telegram: “This afternoon in Derbent and Makhachkala unknown (attackers) tried to destabilize the situation in society.
“They were confronted by Dagestan police officers.”
