Armed militants in Dagestan kill priest and police in attacks on churches, synagogue and police post – National

Armed militants attacked two Orthodox church buildings, a synagogue and a visitors police put up in Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, killing a priest, a church safety guard and not less than six cops, Russian state information company Tass mentioned Sunday.

Russia’s Nationwide Anti-Terrorism Committee mentioned in an announcement {that a} Russian Orthodox priest and cops had been killed within the “terrorist” assaults.

Dagestan’s Ministry of Inside Affairs mentioned a gaggle of armed males fired at a synagogue and a church within the metropolis of Derbent, positioned on the Caspian Sea.

The attackers fled and a seek for them was underway, the assertion from the ministry mentioned. Tass reported that the church and synagogue had been set on fireplace within the assault.

Nearly concurrently, experiences appeared about an assault on a visitors police put up within the capital of the largely Muslim area, Makhachkala.

In keeping with RIA Novosti, six policemen had been killed and 12 extra had been injured.

Shamil Khadulaev, deputy chairman of the general public monitoring fee of Dagestan, cited by RIA Novosti, mentioned a priest in Derbent and a church safety guard in Makhachkala had been killed.

9 individuals had been reported killed within the assaults, together with seven policemen, whereas 25 had been injured, in line with the Muftiate of Dagestan, a state-supported religious administrative physique.

4 militants had been “eradicated” in Makhachkala, Dagestan’s Ministry of Inside Affairs mentioned.

There was no speedy declare of duty for the assaults, however some officers in Dagestan blamed Ukraine and NATO. The republic has a historical past of Islamic militancy, nonetheless.

“There is no such thing as a doubt that these terrorist assaults are in a method or one other linked with the intelligence providers of Ukraine and NATO international locations,” Dagestan lawmaker Abdulkhakim Gadzhiyev wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian officers didn’t remark instantly on the assaults.

“What occurred appears to be like like a vile provocation and an try and trigger discord between confessions,” President Ramzan Kadyrov of neighboring Chechnya mentioned.

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