Gunmen attacked synagogues and churches in two cities in southern Russia on Sunday, killing several police officers and a priest, in an apparently coordinated attack that underscored Russia’s vulnerability to extremist violence.
Officials said six of the gunmen were killed after shooting in the two cities of Makhachkala and Derbent in the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea. Wielding rifles and Molotov cocktails, they attacked a synagogue and a church in each of the two cities, according to authorities and religious organizations.
Sergei Melikov, governor of Dagestan, described the attack as the latest attack “on our brotherhood, on our multi-ethnic unity”.
The exact number of dead was not immediately clear. Mr. Melikov said that “more than 15 police officers fell victim to today’s terrorist attack,” without specifying how many of them were killed and how many were injured.
The motives and identity of the gunmen were also unclear, and there was no claim of responsibility for the attack. Russia’s FBI-like Investigative Committee said it had launched a terrorism investigation.
The attack was the latest outbreak of apparent extremist violence inside Russia as the country wages its war against neighboring Ukraine. Four gunmen killed 145 people at a Moscow concert hall in March in an attack claimed by Islamic State. And in Dagestan last October, an anti-Semitic mob stormed a plane arriving from Tel Aviv.
In Derbent, attackers set fire to a synagogue after shooting and killing police officers guarding it, the Russian Jewish Congress said. They also killed a priest, Nikolai Kotelnikov, according to a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church. The priest was the only confirmed victim of Sunday’s attack who was not a law enforcement officer, although Mr. Melikov said “many” civilians had been killed.
Around the same time, early Sunday evening, gunmen also opened fire on a traffic post in Makhachkala, according to state media reports. The attackers’ targets also included the Assumption Cathedral in Makhachkala, according to state media reports, and a synagogue, according to the Russian Jewish Congress.
Videos posted by Dagestan’s interior ministry show gunmen on the loose in the city of Makhachkala, opening fire and forcing people out of their cars. At one point, police said roads leading out of town were blocked. It remained unclear late Sunday whether any gunmen remained at large, although Mr. Melikov said the “active phase” of the police response was over.
The chaos highlighted long-standing ethnic and religious tensions in Russia, particularly in the country’s South Caucasus region, which includes Dagestan. Patriarch Kirill I, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said it was “no coincidence” that the attack took place on the day Orthodox Christians celebrate Pentecost.
“We see that the enemy does not give up its efforts to destroy interfaith peace and harmony within our society,” Kirill said in a statement.
It was not said who exactly the enemy was. There was no comment from the Kremlin and authorities said little about the identities of the attackers, although some state media reported that some of the gunmen may have been the sons of a local official.
After the March shooting at a Moscow concert hall — Russia’s deadliest terror attack in 20 years — Russian officials repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Ukraine and the West were behind the violence, even though Islamic State claimed responsibility. responsibility for it.
On Sunday, some Russian politicians also pointed the finger at the West, without evidence. Leonid Slutsky, a senior lawmaker, claimed the attacks were “intended to sow panic and divide the people of Russia” and that “the blood of the victims” was also on the hands of the United States.
The attacks were the latest to hit Russia’s Jewish community, which has faced increased threats since the start of the war in Gaza, according to community leaders. Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it is in contact with leaders of the Jewish community in Dagestan and that there are no known casualties among that community.
