“Panic and fear, that is what these people are counting on in the first instance. But they won’t get that from Dagestanis,” he added, calling on residents to stay calm.
It’s the second large shooting this year in Russia, after a group of gunmen descended upon the Crocus City concert hall near Moscow in March, killing 145 people.
Footage on social media Sunday showed men holding automatic rifles, and flames and plumes of smoke rising from buildings, supposedly in Derbent, a city on the Caspian Sea listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Russian state media reported that the city’s synagogue and one of two targeted Orthodox churches have suffered severe fire damage.
Russian news agency Interfax also cited officials as confirming reports that a 66-year-old priest had been killed. According to a local official’s Telegram post, the priest’s throat was slit and a church guard was shot.
Other footage appeared to show gunmen engaged in a shootout after attacking a traffic police checkpoint in the region’s capital, Makhachkala. A synagogue in the same city also appeared to be ablaze.
At least four of the gunmen have been killed and another two detained, Russian media reported as clashes with police were still ongoing late Sunday.
Dagestan, located in Russia’s restive north Caucasus, is a predominantly Muslim region, and the targeting of several religious sites appear to hint at a coordinated, religiously motivated attack. Sunday’s attacks come some eight months after an angry mob stormed an airport in Makhachkala in October last year, looking for passengers on a flight from Tel Aviv.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
