Nine people, including seven police officers and a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, were killed during the attacks – defined as “terrorist” by the Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee – which this afternoon, June 23, hit two churches, a synagogue and a traffic police post in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala, in the Autonomous Republic of Dagestan, southern Russia. Automatic weapons were used for the raid, while the priest – 66 years old – was allegedly stabbed to death. The identity of the attackers has not yet been disclosed, but four of them were killed in Makhachkala, the Interior Ministry said on Telegram. “The suspects fled in a white Volkswagen Polo. The circumstances of the attack are being clarified”, writes the Tax citing the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Dagestan. There are also more than 20 injured. After the attack, places of worship were set on fire. A source close to the local police told the Tax that the perpetrators of these attacks “are members of an international terrorist organization.” After the attacks, in a square in the center of the village of Sergokala, 80 kilometers south of Makhachkala, unknown men shot at a police car, wounding an officer.
Medvedev: “In Dagestan, a cowardly terrorist attack like in Crimea”
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev spoke of the “massacre in Dagestan” as a “cowardly terrorist attack”, comparing it to the Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol, Crimea, hit by several drones and missiles in a military operation that Moscow he also blamed the US for supplying the weapons used in Kiev. “Everything that happened in Crimea was not a military action, but a cowardly and atrocious terrorist attack against our people, committed on an Orthodox holiday, like the massacre in Dagestan, carried out by extremists. For us there is no ‘difference between the Bandera regime (Ukrainian ultranationalist leader during the Second World War, ed.) and the crazy fanatics,’ Medvedev wrote on Telegram (WAR IN UKRAINE, LIVE UPDATES).
State of emergency in the capital
For the regional leader, Sergei Melikov, the attacks are “an attempt to destabilize society”. In the capital Makhachkala and the coastal city of Derbent, authorities have established a state of emergency and opened a criminal investigation into “terrorist acts”. The Interior Ministry has denied rumors that a hostage crisis is taking place in an Orthodox church in Makhachkala.
There were no believers in the synagogue
The Israeli embassy in Moscow is in contact with leaders of the Jewish community in the Derbent district. The Israeli Foreign Ministry made this known, adding that “as far as is known, there were no believers in the synagogue at the time of the attack”.
