Attacks in Russia’s Dagestan region kill 19
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A total of 19 people, including an Orthodox priest and 15 police officers, lost their lives in Dagestan, Russia's southern region. The tragic incident occurred when armed attackers targeted churches and synagogues in two cities.
Russian officials declared the shootings as acts of terrorism and confirmed that the situation was managed by Monday. They stated that six of the attackers were neutralized.
Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim area in the northern Caucasus that has faced challenges with a persistent Islamist rebellion. The incidents of gun violence in the capital city of Makhachkala and Derbent on Sunday evening were the most severe acts of terrorism in Russia since militants attacked a concert hall in Moscow in March, resulting in the deaths of 145 people and injuring 180 more.
The recent shootings seem to be a part of a rise in extremist violence in Russia. According to the Russian news agency Tass, law enforcement sources stated that the perpetrators were members of a global terrorist group.
Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov mentioned that President Vladimir Putin expressed his sympathy to the families of the victims and is currently receiving updates on the assistance being provided to them, as reported by Interfax.
Peskov stated that it was highly unlikely for Russia to experience the same level of disarray as seen during Putin's initial term as president in the 2000s, when such attacks were frequent.
"Russia has changed. The society is united and there is no support for criminal terrorist attacks like this. This sentiment is not just evident in Russia, but also in Dagestan," Peskov informed the press.
In a video posted on the social media platform Telegram, regional leader Sergei Melikov stated that the attacks had been influenced in part by outside sources and declared that the government would persist in locating and arresting all individuals involved in clandestine groups operating in the area.
Melikov stated that this is a sad day for Dagestan and for the entire nation.
Tass reported that the assailants were made up of two sons and the nephew of Magomed Omarov, a government official who was later detained and removed from Putin's United Russia party.
The assailants hurled Molotov cocktails at a synagogue and Russian Orthodox Christian church in Derbent, before turning their aggression towards police officers who were protecting the religious buildings, as reported by Baza, a news platform on Telegram linked to law enforcement authorities.
Melikov stated that among the victims was a priest of the Orthodox faith who had dedicated over four decades of service to the church.
Thirty minutes afterwards, another set of assailants began shooting at police officers who were protecting a church in Makhachkala. They also threw a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue close by and attacked traffic police.
Melikov announced that there will be three days of mourning in Dagestan and paid a visit to both the synagogue and church in Derbent on Monday.
Dagestan experienced frequent acts of terrorism in the 2000s following a separatist rebellion in nearby Chechnya spreading to the area.
The Russian government aggressively targeted the rebel fighters, some of whom had joined with global Islamist organizations. Russia stated that they successfully ended the rebellion in 2017.
Russia accused Ukraine of being responsible for the assault on the concert hall in March, but did not offer any proof. They also claimed that certain western nations were aiding the militants, although they did admit that the US had alerted security services about the attack beforehand.
Isis-K, a group associated with the militant organization Isis in Afghanistan, said they were behind the attack. In a separate incident this month, six prisoners, including some convicted of terrorism, briefly held two jail officials captive in Rostov, a city in southern Russia. The special forces intervened, taking down all six attackers who were armed with knives, wearing bandannas, and carrying flags with the Isis symbol.
In October of last year, Russian authorities detained 60 individuals following an incident where a group expressing anti-Semitic views and upset about Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza, raided an airport in Makhachkala. The Russian government attributed this event to "outside manipulation".
A few people who specialize in security have mentioned that Putin's complete invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the government's strict control over civil rights have caused the security services to focus on the wrong things and have taken away resources, making Russia more at risk for Islamist attacks.
Dmitry Rogozin, a strong Russian politician, cautioned on Sunday about not accusing Kyiv and its western allies for the attack. He expressed his concerns on social media stating that blaming Ukraine and NATO for every act of terrorism rooted in ethnic and religious intolerance, hatred, and Russophobia could lead to serious consequences. Rogozin emphasized the importance of self-awareness and not overlooking one's own faults while pointing fingers at others.
