The Russian Republic of Dagestan in the country’s North Caucasus region is holding three days of mourning following an attack by Islamic militants in two cities that targeted Orthodox Christian and Jewish houses of worship as well as a traffic police post that killed 20 people, mostly police officers.
Today at 18.00 in Derbent, Dagestan unknown persons fired at a synagogue and a church with automatic weapons.
According to information a priest was killed during an attack on a church.
The clergyman's throat was cut.
The attackers were eliminated by security forces 1/ pic.twitter.com/tYF4xYibvu— (@KonulikShahin) June 23, 2024
The attack is the deadliest in Russia since the attack on the Crocus City Hall in suburban Russia in March, where Islamic militants opened fire at the concert hall and set the building on fire, killing at least 145 people. The assault in the predominantly Muslim region in southern Russia also occurred following an attack on a Russian prison in Rostov-on-Don, where six suspected Islamic militants took two prison officers hostage and were subsequently killed by Russian special forces.
Dagestan’s interior ministry reported a group of armed men fired shots at the Kele-Numaz synagogue and an Orthodox Christian church in the city of Derbent, located near the Caspian Sea. Russian state media also reported that the militants set the church and synagogue on fire. Reports of attacks against an Orthodox Christian church, a synagogue, and a traffic police post in the city of Makhachkala, Dagestan’s capital city located 120 kilometers (about 75 miles) north of Derbent, also emerged almost simultaneously.
The Russian Jewish Congress said the attackers opened fire and set the synagogue on fire using Molotov cocktails less than an hour before evening prayers. Many of the victims were private security guards who had to provide security for worshippers after the incident in Makhachkala’s airport in October last year, where a mob targeted a flight from Israel.
During this incident, hundreds of men, some carrying banners with antisemitic slogans, rushed to the tarmac, chased passengers, and threw stones at police officers, leading to 20 people being hurt - none of them Israelis.
Militants Attack in Dagestan: 5 Police Officers Killed, 9 Injured
Reports indicate that a militant attack in Dagestan has resulted in the deaths of 5 police officers and injuries to 9 others.
But wait! Here is more!
Militants reportedly killed Father Nikolai, a priest at an… pic.twitter.com/Qu42MrOqDf— Bandera Fella(@banderafella) June 23, 2024
At one of the Orthodox churches attacked, attackers slit the throat of Rev. Nikolai Kotelnikov, a 66-year-old Orthodox Christian priest, before setting the church on fire. The attacks against the Orthodox Christian churches in Derbent and Makhachkala came on the day faithful Orthodox Christian worshippers celebrated Pentecost, also known as Trinity Sunday.
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top state criminal investigation agency, said that 20 people were killed during the attacks, 15 of whom were police officers. Medical authorities in Dagestan also said 46 people were injured during the attacks, with 13 of them being police officers and 4 of them hospitalized in grave condition.
Russia’s Anti-Terrorist Committee said at least five gunmen were killed after the attacks, with news reports claiming that the attackers included two sons and a nephew of Magomed Omarov, the head of the regional branch of the pro-Kremlin United Russia Party in Dagestan. Sergei Melikov, governor of Dagestan, said that authorities detained Omarov for interrogation, and the United Russia Party quickly dismissed him from their ranks.
Melikov also blamed the attacks on members of Islamic “sleeper cells” directed from abroad but did not provide any details about them. He also said in a video statement that the assailants aimed at “sowing panic and fear” and even attempted to link the attacks to Moscow’s military action in Ukraine without providing further evidence.
The death toll from the terrorist attacks in Derbent and Makhachkala has risen to 20 people, including 17 law enforcement officers pic.twitter.com/mfLMwBRXYK
— Military (@WarHunter2222) June 24, 2024
Although violence and religious extremism started to decline in Dagestan in recent years, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the volatile region, where about 95% of the population identifies as Muslim, extremist sentiments still run high in the area, as shown by the airport rampage in October last year, which challenged Kremlin’s narrative that ethnic and religious groups co-exist peacefully in Russia.
