Armed men attacked synagogues and churches in the region of Dagestan, in Russia’s North Caucasus, killing a priest, six police officers and a member of the national guard, security officials said.
The attacks took place in Makhachkala, the largest city in Dagestan, and in the coastal city of Derbent, where shootings occurred.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened criminal investigations into “acts of terrorism” as the search for the gunmen continued.
This incident occurs in Russia three months after the massacre of Crocus City Hallthe worst attack recorded in Russia in 20 years.
On March 22, gunmen dressed in camouflage clothing opened fire at the Crocus City Hall concert hall on the outskirts of the Russian capital, then set the building on fire. At least 144 people died and 360 were injuredin what was the worst attack committed on Russian soil since 2004.
More than 20 suspects were detained, including the four attackers, all from Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia neighboring Afghanistan.
The Russian security service FSB said in April that had arrested four people in Dagestan on suspicion of planning the deadly attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall concert hall in March, claimed by the Islamic State.
Militants from Dagestan are known to have traveled to join the group Islamic State In Syria. In 2015, the group stated that it had established a “franchise” in the North Caucasus.
Dagestan is located east of Chechnyawhere Russian authorities fought separatists in two brutal wars, first in 1994-1996 and then in 1999-2000.
After the defeat of the Chechen insurgents, the Russian authorities have found themselves embroiled in a latent conflict with Islamist militants throughout the North Caucasus that has killed dozens of civilians and police.
At the end of March, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, He acknowledged that the attack was committed by “radical Islamists,” but continued to suggest that kyiv had ordered it.
Russia recognized for the first time at the end of may that the jihadist group Islamic State He is responsible for the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall. The group repeatedly claimed responsibility, but Moscow attempted to link Ukraine and the West to the attack.
“In the course of the investigation (…), it was determined that the preparation, financing, attack and withdrawal of the terrorists were coordinated over the internet by members of the Khorasan Province group,” the Afghan branch of IS, declared the director of the Russian security services (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov cited by agency RIA Novosti.
Bortnikov did not rule out this possibility in his statement, in which he stated that “upon completion of the attack, the terrorists received clear instructions to head to the Ukrainian border, from where the other side prepared a ‘window’ for them.”
The Ukrainian government has repeatedly denied any link to the terrorist attack..
(With information from AFP)
