More than fifteen individuals were murdered in a terrorist attack on two churches, two synagogues, and a police roadblock in simultaneous small arms strikes in the Russian Republic of Dagestan on Sunday. No organization has claimed responsibility for the incidents.
Dagestani state media reported that just before 6:00 p.m. local time, several armed men opened fire with automatic rifles at a church and a synagogue in the city of Derbent before committing acts of arson on the structures.
One victim, identified as an infirm 66-year-old priest, was said to have died after having his throat slit.
At approximately the same time as the first event, reports emerged of a similar incursion against another church, a synagogue, and a traffic enforcement station in the capital city of Makhachkala.
Russian anti-terrorism officials announced that they had deployed personnel to the areas and “eliminated” six gunmen who they said were responsible for the bloodshed.
Law enforcement sources told the state news agency Tass that three of the perpetrators were related to a local government official and that they were “adherents of an international terrorist organization.”
In March, Islamic State operatives killed 145 people in a suburban Moscow concert hall using similar tactics.
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