Some unidentified armed men attacked an Orthodox church and a synagogue in the mostly Muslim republic of Dagestan, state media reported Sunday, resulting in the deaths of at least two policemen, one priest, and one security officer.
The assailants fired at the synagogue and church in the city of Derbent with automatic rifles around 6:00 p.m. local time. They left the scene immediately in a white Volkswagen Polo, officials reported.
One policeman was killed, and another was wounded in a shootout at the synagogue, regional police said. Shortly after, the synagogue caught fire.
Shamil Khadulaev, the chairman of Dagestan’s Public Monitoring Commission, said that Father Nikolai, a 66-year-old priest at the Orthodox church in Derbent, was killed in a knife attack. He added that other priests hid inside the church and were waiting for help. Khadulaev confirmed that a security guard at the Orthodox church in Makhachkala was also killed.
In a separate incident, unidentified assailants attacked a traffic police post in the regional capital of Makhachkala. At least one police officer was killed and six others injured in an ongoing armed standoff that followed the attack, the region’s Interior Ministry said.
The regional Interior Ministry reported that two militants had been killed, though it did not specify in which city. Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal terrorism probe into the armed attacks in Derbent and Makhachkala.
Details shortly…