Attacks on synagogues and churches in Dagestan

MOSCOW (EFE) – At least ten people were killed and another 25 injured this Sunday during attacks by unidentified persons on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a transit point in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala in the Dagestan region, the republic of the Russian Caucasus, which is majority Muslim, according to local authorities.

The Dagestan mufti reported nine deaths, seven of whom were police officers and the other two, a priest from the Derbent church and a church guard in the regional capital Makhachkala.

According to the local department of the Interior Ministry, the death toll also includes the death of the police chief of the town of Dagestanskiye Ogni, who went to support his colleagues in neighboring Derbent, where he was seriously injured.

According to law enforcement officials, the number of injured rose to 25.

Images of the Derbent synagogue engulfed in fire and rising thick columns of smoke were broadcast on Russian public television.

Blockade of the capital

This Sunday, Russian police blocked all access to the city of Makhachkala in the region of Dagestan, a mainly Muslim Russian republic in the Caucasus, where they are trying to capture the attackers of a church and a police post.

“The roads to Makhachkala were blocked by the police. According to available information, the attackers’ accomplices may try to escape and leave the city,” the press department of the Dagestan Interior Ministry reported on Telegram.

Meanwhile, in the city of Derbent, 110 kilometres south, where a church and a synagogue were also attacked, clashes between law enforcement officers and extremists continue.

Police reported they had eliminated four extremists in Makhachkala, three of whom were identified as the son and nephew of district chief Sergokli, who were also detained.

In Sergokali, the main town of the district, a police car was fired upon by unidentified assailants, injuring a law enforcement officer.

Attacks in Dagestan spark concern

The authorities of Dagestan declared an anti-terrorist operation regime in the administrative boundaries of the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent, located on the coast of the Caspian Sea.

The attacks on churches occurred on the same day that Russian Orthodox celebrate Pentecost.

The last attack on a church in the republic took place last February, when a gunman opened fire on a crowd of people celebrating the Russian festival of Masletnisa, a carnival-like holiday before the Great Orthodox Fast, killing four people.

The attacker was killed by security forces, after which the Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the incident without offering any evidence.