MOSCOW (AP) — Armed militants attacked two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a traffic police post in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, killing a priest and six police officers, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported Sunday.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said in a statement that a Russian Orthodox Church priest and police officers were killed in the “terrorist” attacks.
Dagestan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said a group of armed men fired at a synagogue and a church in the city of Derbent, located on the Caspian Sea. The attackers fled and a search was underway, the ministry statement said. The ministry said two militants had been “eliminated”.
Almost simultaneously, reports emerged of an attack on a traffic police post in the capital of the predominantly Muslim region, Makhachkala. According to RIA Novosti, six police officers were killed and another 12 were injured.
Shamil Khadulaev, deputy chairman of Dagestan’s public monitoring commission, quoted by RIA Novosti, said that a priest in Derbent and a church security guard in Makhachkala were killed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but some officials in Dagestan blamed Ukraine and NATO.
“There is no doubt that these terrorist attacks are, in one way or another, linked to the intelligence services of Ukraine and NATO countries,” Dagestan lawmaker Abdulkhakim Gadzhiyev wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian authorities did not immediately comment on the attacks.
“What happened looks like a vile provocation and an attempt to cause discord between confessions,” said President Ramzan Kadyrov of neighboring Chechnya.
