Russia Terror Attack: Synagogues and Churches Attacked by Gunmen in Muslim Region
At least 22 people have been killed in a large coordinated terror attack on two synagogues, two churches, and a police outpost in a Russian Muslim-majority region.
Six gunmen were killed by the Russian security services, the Kremlin said overnight, following a series of coordinated terror attacks on a Holy day in the country’s southwestern-most Dagestan Republic. The total number of killed and injured has not been published, but it may stretch into the dozens. As well as the slain terrorists claimed, at least 15 police officers were also killed and “several civilians”.
Among the civilian dead is a long-serving Christian Orthodox priest, Father Nikolay, who was killed at his church where he has been priest for 40 years.
Per information from the Russian state, two Synagogues at the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala, two Orthodox churches, and a police outpost were attacked on Sunday. In the case of the Derbent Synagogue, the Russian Jewish Congress stated, the attack started shortly before evening prayers. They said the attack at Makhachkala was similar.
Police were on routine patrol at the Derbent synagogue and private security were also present station. They were killed, and terrorists set fire to the synagogue. The fire was extinguished by early hours of Monday morning.
Three days of mourning have been declared by Dagestan, one of the constituent Republics of the Russian Federation bordering the Caspian sea on the Caucasus region.
Russian authorities say they have identified the attackers and say they received foreign funding, but have not released specific details, nor officially stated what the motive for the attack may be. Yet the Russian Dagestan Republic is a Muslim majority area and anger in the area over the Israel-Hamas war has seen attacks targeting Jewish people living in the area.
In 2023, a “mob” of Palestine flag-carrying men besieged a hotel and Dagestan’s main airport “in search of Jewish passengers arriving from Israel”. The Guardianstated at the time:
Airline employees were shown hustling passengers back inside planes as the crowds approached the aircraft. Russia closed Makhachkala airport on Sunday evening due to “intruders” at the airport. “This is your captain,” one announcement said. “There’s an angry mob outside that doesn’t know where we’ve come from and why [we are here]. It’s possible we’ll also come under attack.”
Dozens were injured, and the local government stepped up protections for Dagestani Jews in response. Russian state media reports the police officers killed outside the Synagogue in Derbent yesterday were stationed there as part of that post-airport mob deployment of extra security.
A Russian spokesman Valentina Matviyenko said of the weekend’s mass terror attacks in Dagestan that the Russian security forces and anti-terrorism committee will “mop up extremist cells”, and establish who had masterminded the assault. She said the government had already “conformed” the attackers had received foreign financing.