ISIS terror attack in Dagestan leaves 17 police officers dead, 20 more injured
ISIS has ramped up its operations in Russia in recent months as the country reels from the Crocus City hall attack earlier this year.
Russian synagogue and churches on fire after attacks
More than 15 police officers and several civilians, including an Orthodox priest, were killed by armed militants in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan on Sunday, its governor Sergei Melikov said in a video statement early this morning.
Local media outlets were this morning putting the number of people killed at 20, including 17 police officers, with the total number of injured at 44 - 37 of them police, with responsibility provisionally pinned on ISIS.
The gunmen opened fire on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police post in two cities, according to the authorities.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee described the attacks in the predominantly Muslim region with a history of armed insurgency as terrorist acts.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were declared days of mourning in the region.
Dagestan's Interior Ministry said a group of armed men shot at a synagogue and a church in the city of Derbent, located on the Caspian Sea. Both the church and the synagogue caught fire, according to state media. Almost simultaneously, reports appeared about an attack on a church and a traffic police post in the Dagestan capital, Makhachkala.
Authorities announced a counter-terrorist operation in the region. The Anti-Terrorist Committee said five gunmen were “eliminated” while the governor claimed six “bandits” had been “liquidated.”
The discrepancy could not be immediately reconciled and it was not clear how many militants were involved in the attacks.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. The authorities launched a criminal investigation on the charge of a terrorist act.
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Russian state news agency Tass cited law enforcement sources as saying that a Dagestani official was detained over his sons' involvement in the attacks.
Melikov said in the video statement that the situation in the region was under control of the law enforcement and local authorities, and vowed that the investigation of the attacks will continue until “all the sleeping cells” of the militants are uncovered.
He claimed, without providing evidence, that the attacks might have been prepared from abroad, and referenced what the Kremlin calls “the special military operation” in Ukraine in an apparent attempt to link the attacks to it.
In March, gunmen opened fire on a crowd at a concert hall in suburban Moscow, killing 145 people. An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Russian officials also sought to link Ukraine to the attack without providing any evidence. Kyiv has vehemently denied any involvement.
The attack comes after ISIS-K operatives stormed the Crocus City Hall in Moscow back in March.
They killed 145 people and set the venue on fire as people gathered there for a rock concert.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack a "barbaric terrorist act"
Twelve people were detained. Four suspects were charged with terrorism offences on March 24.
ISIS has targeted Russia on a number of occasions. Moscow played a vital role in destroying much of the group's resources in Syria after war broke out in the country back in 2011.
