Armed militants attacked two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a traffic police post in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, killing a priest and six police officers, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Sunday.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement that a Russian Orthodox Church priest and police officers were killed in the “terrorist” attacks.
Dagestan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said a group of armed men fired at a synagogue and a church in the city of Derbent, located on the Caspian Sea. The attackers fled and a search was underway for them, the statement from the ministry said. The ministry said two militants were “eliminated.”
Almost simultaneously, reports appeared about an attack on a traffic police post in the capital of the largely Muslim region, Makhachkala. According to RIA Novosti, six policemen were killed and 12 more were injured.
Shamil Khadulaev, deputy chairman of the public monitoring commission of Dagestan, cited by RIA Novosti, said a priest in Derbent and a church security guard in Makhachkala were killed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but some officials in Dagestan blamed Ukraine and NATO.
RELATED COVERAGE
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un talk to each other during their tete-a-tete meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
South Korea will consider supplying arms to Ukraine after Russia and North Korea sign strategic pact
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un pose for a photo during a signing ceremony of the new partnership in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
What’s known, and not known, about the partnership agreement signed by Russia and North Korea
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un exchange documents during a signing ceremony of the new partnership in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. Putin and Kim signed a new partnership that includes a vow of mutual aid if either country is attacked, during a Wednesday summit that came as both face escalating standoffs with the West. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russia and North Korea sign partnership deal that appears to be the strongest since the Cold War
“There is no doubt that these terrorist attacks are in one way or another connected with the intelligence services of Ukraine and NATO countries,” Dagestan lawmaker Abdulkhakim Gadzhiyev wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian officials did not comment immediately on the attacks.
“What happened looks like a vile provocation and an attempt to cause discord between confessions,” President Ramzan Kadyrov of neighboring Chechnya said.
As a result of a series of attacks in Derbent today, the rector of the Orthodox Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, Father Nikolai, was brutally murdered.
The elderly priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Nikolai Kotelnikov, had served at the altar of God for more than forty years. Father Nikolai is survived by his wife, three children and grandchildren. May his soul rest in peace.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but some officials in Dagestan blamed Ukraine and NATO.
