![\"Gunmen](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2024-06\/uu4qbcsg_russia-attack_625x300_24_June_24.jpeg\"\/ "\\"Gunmen")
<\/div>\nUnidentified gunmen opened fire at synagogues and churches in Russia’s Dagestan region<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
At least 15 people, including policemen and a priest, were killed and several others injured after unidentified gunmen opened fire at synagogues, churches, and a police post in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, the region’s governor said.<\/p>\n
The simultaneous attacks occurred in Dagestan’s largest city of Makhachkala and in the coastal city of Derbent with Governor Sergei Melikov calling it a “terrorist attack”.<\/p>\n
Officials said that the police personnel had killed four gunmen in Makhachkala and two in Derbent.<\/p>\n
Melikov said that among the dead, in addition to the police officers, were several civilians, including an Orthodox priest who had worked in Derbent for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n
“This evening in Derbent and Makhachkala unknown (attackers) made attempts to destabilise the situation in society,”\u00a0Melikov wrote on Telegram.<\/p>\n
“We know who is behind these terrorist attacks and what objective they are pursuing,” he added later, without specifying but referring to the Russia-Ukraine war<\/a>.<\/p>\n “We must understand that war comes to our homes too. We felt it, but today we face it,” he said.<\/p>\n Melikov said the “active phase” of operations in Derbent and Makhachkala had ended and that “six bandits have been liquidated”.<\/p>\n The authorities will try to find “all the members of these sleeper cells who prepared (the attacks) and who were prepared, including abroad”, he added.<\/p>\n He also said that June 24-26 have been declared days of mourning in Dagestan, with flags lowered to half-staff and all entertainment events cancelled.<\/p>\n Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened criminal probes over “acts of terror” in Dagestan. There, however, was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks.<\/p>\n Russia’s state media cited law enforcement as saying that among the attackers had been two sons of the head of central Dagestan’s Sergokala district, who had been detained.<\/p>\n In Derbent, authorities were quoted as saying that both the synagogue and church were set on fire.<\/p>\n The incident comes three months after 145 people were killed in an attack claimed by the Islamic State on a concert hall near Moscow<\/a>, Russia’s worst terrorist attack in years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n