Gunmen attacked synagogues and churches in two southern Russian cities on Sunday, killing several police officers and a priest in an apparently coordinated attack that highlighted Russia's vulnerability to extremist violence.
Six of the militants were killed in gun battles in the two cities of Makhachkala and Derbent in the Muslim-majority region of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea coast, authorities said. Armed militants, armed with rifles and Molotov cocktails, attacked a synagogue and a church in each city, authorities and religious groups said.
Dagestan Governor Sergey Melikov called the attack the latest attack “on our fraternity and multi-ethnic unity.”
The exact death toll was not immediately clear. Melikov said “more than 15 police officers became the victims of today's terrorist attack,” but did not say how many were killed or wounded.
The motive and identity of the attacker are unknown, and no one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Russia's Investigative Committee, Russia's equivalent of the FBI, has announced that it has opened a terrorism investigation.
The attack was the latest outburst of extremist violence in Russia, which is at war with neighboring Ukraine. In March, four gunmen killed 145 people at a Moscow concert hall in an attack claimed by the Islamic State, and in October an anti-Semitic mob in Dagestan attacked a plane arriving from Tel Aviv.
In Derbent, attackers shot and killed a police officer guarding a synagogue before setting it on fire, according to the Russian Jewish Congress. The attackers also killed priest Nikolai Kotelnikov, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church said. The priest is the only confirmed non-police casualty in Sunday's attack, but Melikov said “several” civilians were killed.
At roughly the same time, gunmen also opened fire on a traffic police station in Makhachkala early Sunday evening, state media reported. The attackers' targets also included the city's Assumption Cathedral and, according to the Russian Jewish Congress, a synagogue.
Video posted by the Dagestan Interior Ministry showed gunmen fleeing, opening fire and forcing people out of cars in the city of Makhachkala. Police said roads leading out of the city were briefly blocked. It was unclear whether the gunmen were still at large as of late Sunday, but Melikov said the “active phase” of the police response was over.
The unrest has highlighted long-standing ethnic and religious tensions in Russia, particularly in the South Caucasus region, including Dagestan. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill I, said it was “no coincidence” that the attack came on the day Orthodox Christians celebrate Pentecost.
“We can see that the enemy has not given up on its attempts to destroy interreligious peace and harmony in our society,” Kirill said in a statement.
It was not clear who the attackers were exactly: There has been no comment from the Kremlin and officials have said little about the identities of the attackers, although some state media have reported they may have included the son of a local official.
After the March shooting at a Moscow concert hall – Russia's worst terrorist attack in two decades – Russian authorities repeatedly claimed without evidence that Ukraine and the West were behind the violence, even though Islamic State claimed responsibility.
On Sunday, Russian politicians also blamed the West without evidence, with senior lawmaker Leonid Slutsky claiming the attack was “aimed at sowing panic and dividing the Russian people” and that the “blood of the victims” was on the US's hands.
The attack is the latest to shake Russia's Jewish community, which community leaders say has faced increasing threats since the start of the war in Gaza. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was in contact with Jewish community leaders in Dagestan and that no casualties had been confirmed within the community.