More than a dozen killed in terror attack in Russia's Dagestan region.
Gunmen targeted and attacked police stations, churches, and a synagogue in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Dagestan on Sunday evening, killing 19 people, including five shooters.
Following the incident, at least 16 people were rushed to hospitals with injuries. Three days of mourning have been announced in Dagestan, a primarily Muslim region in southern Russia that borders Chechnya. On the Orthodox festival of Pentecost, two apparently coordinated attacks struck the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala, killing an Orthodox priest. Sergei Melikov, the head of the Republic of Dagestan, later identified him as Father Nikolai Kotelnikov, who had served in Derbent for almost 40 years.
In a series of attacks on Sunday night, gunmen attacked a church and a synagogue in Derbent, which is home to an ancient Jewish community. Dagestan has in the past been the scene of Islamist attacks and its largest city, Makhachkala, a church and a police post near a synagogue were attacked.
Footage posted on social media showed people wearing dark clothes shooting at police cars in Makhachkala, before a convoy of emergency service vehicles arrive at the scene.
Although the assailants have not been officially identified, Russian media widely reported that among the gunmen were two sons of the head of the Sergokala district, Magomed Omarov, who was detained by police.
However, in a video posted on Telegram, Mr Melikov implied Ukraine had been involved in the attack and that Dagestan was now directly involved in Russia's war in Ukraine.
The war is coming to our homes," Mr Melikov stated. "We understand who is behind the organisation of the terrorist attacks and what goal they pursued," he stated.
On Monday, Mr Melikov said officials were still looking for members of "sleeper cells" who had planned the attacks, including with help from abroad. Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian State Duma's international affairs committee, made similar comments, claiming that the Dagestan attacks and a missile strike that killed four in Russia-occupied Sevastopol on Sunday "could not be a coincidence". "These tragic events, I am sure, were orchestrated from abroad and are aimed at sowing panic and dividing the Russian people," Mr. Slutsky claimed.
However, Dmitry Rogozin, a prominent Russian nationalist in occupied Ukraine, warned that blaming every incident on "the machinations of Ukraine and Nato, this pink mist will lead us to big problems"
Between 2007 and 2017, the Caucasus Emirate, later known as the Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus, carried out assaults in Dagestan and the neighboring Russian republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia, and Kabardino-Balkaria.
