The attacks occurred in Makhachkala, Dagestan’s largest city, and in the coastal city of Derbent, where gunfights continued.
Russia’s Investigative Committee announced it had launched criminal investigations into “acts of terror” while the search for the assailants was still ongoing.
Witnesses reported hearing gunfire near a church in Makhachkala, with ongoing shootouts in Derbent, according to the TASS state news agency. Dagestan’s interior ministry confirmed it had killed two of the gunmen in Makhachkala. Sunday was Pentecost, a religious holiday in the Russian Orthodox Church. Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim region in Russia, is adjacent to Chechnya.
“This evening in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala, armed attacks targeted two Orthodox churches, a synagogue, and a police checkpoint,” the National Antiterrorism Committee stated to RIA Novosti.
“As a result of the terrorist attacks, preliminary information indicates that a priest from the Russian Orthodox Church and police officers were killed.”
In total, six police officers were killed and another 12 wounded in the attacks, according to Gayana Gariyeva, spokeswoman for Dagestan’s interior ministry, speaking to RIA Novosti.
Russia’s National Guard reported one of its officers was killed in Derbent, with several others wounded.
A 66-year-old priest was killed in Derbent, confirmed Gariyeva, the press secretary of Dagestan’s interior ministry, to the agency.
