‘Acts of terror’: Gunmen kill at least eight police and a priest during attacks in Russia

Gunmen have attacked synagogues and churches in Russia, killing a priest and at least eight police officers, as deadly gunfights continue.

Gunmen have attacked synagogues and churches in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan, killing at least eight police officers, a national guard officer and a priest, according to security officials.

The unidentified gunmen launched simultaneous attacks in Dagestan’s largest city of Makhachkala and in the coastal city of Derbent, where gunfights were ongoing with police.

In what appeared to be a new attack, the Dagestan interior ministry later said attackers had shot at a police car, wounding one officer, in a village 65 kilometres from Makhachkala, in a village called Sergokal.

It has now been reported that police have killed four gunmen in Makhachkala and two in Derbent.police had killed four gunmen in Makhachkala and two in Derbent.

Earlier, 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.

Gunmen attacked synagogues and churches in Dagestan, killing a priest, six police officers, and a member of the national guard; ongoing gunfights were reported in Makhachkala and Derbent. Picture: X

Russia’s counter-terrorism agency said Sunday that the “active phase” of its operation against gunmen who have carried out deadly attacks in Dagestan had ended in one of the two cities targeted.

“In Derbent, the active phase of the counterterrorist operation is completed,” the National Anti-terrorism Committee said in a statement to Russian news agencies, while the standoff continued in the region’s main city of Makhachkala.

Dagestan’s interior ministry said police had killed four of the gunmen in Makhachkala.

In all, six officers were killed and 12 wounded in the attacks, the spokeswoman for Dagestan’s interior ministry, Gayana Gariyeva, told RIA Novosti.

This screengrab picture taken from video released on June 23, 2024 by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti shows an area sealed off by Police following deadly attacks on churches and a synagogue in Russia's North Caucasus region of Dagestan. Picture: AFP

Gunmen attacked synagogues and churches in the region of Dagestan, killing a priest, at least eight police officers, and a member of the national guard. Picture: AFP

The ministry later added that a local police chief had died from his wounds.

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

The Russian Orthodox Church said its archpriest Nikolai Kotelnikov was “brutally killed” in Derbent.

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 checkpoint,” said the National Anti-terrorism 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.”

Russia’s Investigative Committee opened criminal probes over “acts of terror” as the search for the gunmen continued; two gunmen were killed by police in Makhachkala. Picture: X

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”.

Fires were reported in synagogues in Derbent and Makhachkala, with ongoing shootouts and efforts to extinguish the fires hampered by the risk of remaining terrorists. Picture: X

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.”

State news agency, TASS, cited a law enforcement, said the “gunmen who carried out attacks in Makhachkala and Derbent are supporters of an international terrorist organisation”, without naming it.

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.