At least 19 people, including 15 police officers and four civilians, were killed in coordinated terrorist attacks on religious sites in the Russian region of Dagestan. The incidents have sparked concerns about ongoing ethnic and religious tensions in the area.
At least 19 people, including 15 police officers and four civilians, were killed in coordinated attacks on religious sites in Dagestan, a region in southern Russia, on Sunday. The attacks, described as terrorist incidents by Russian authorities, occurred in the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent. Six assailants were also killed in the events.
Dagestan, primarily a Muslim region in the northern Caucasus, has a history of Islamist insurgency. The attackers targeted both a synagogue and a Russian Orthodox church in Derbent, using Molotov cocktails and firearms, and similarly targeted religious sites in Makhachkala.
Governor Sergei Melikov declared three days of mourning and visited the attacked sites. Authorities attribute the attacks to “adherents of an international terrorist organization” and suggested external influence. This incident is the deadliest since a terrorist attack at a Moscow concert hall in March.
Magomed Omarov, a local official, was arrested following the attacks, and several of the attackers were reportedly his sons and nephew. The resurgence of violence in Dagestan has ignited concerns about ongoing ethnic and religious tensions in Russia, exacerbated by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.
