Dagestan ‘terror attacks’ kill police, priest

Gunmen attacked churches and synagogues in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, killing at least eight police and national guard officers and a priest, officials said.

The unidentified gunmen launched simultaneous attacks in Dagestan’s largest city of Makhachkala and in the coastal city of Derbent.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened criminal probes over “acts of terror” in Dagestan, a largely Muslim region of Russia neighboring Chechnya.

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

“We know who is behind these terrorist attacks and what objective they are pursuing,” he added later, without specifying but referring to the war in Ukraine.

“We must understand that war comes to our homes too. We felt it, but today we face it,” he said.

Melikov said the “active phase” of operations in Derbent and Makhachkala had ended and that “six bandits have been liquidated.”

The authorities will try to find “all the members of these sleeper cells who prepared (the attacks) and who were prepared, including abroad,” he added.

Russian officials said police had killed four gunmen in Makhachkala and two in Derbent.

Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a fervent supporter of the Kremlin, said the “enemy” was seeking to destroy “inter-religious peace” in Russia, without naming who was responsible.