Attacks kill 20 people in Russia's Dagestan region

Gunmen opened fire at a synagogue, an Orthodox church and a police post in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, killing six policemen and injuring 12, the region’s interior ministry was quoted as saying.

Russia’s southern region of Dagestan held the first of three days of mourning Monday following a rampage by Islamic militants who authorities say killed 20 people, most of them police, and attacked houses of worship in apparently coordinated assaults in two cities.

Sunday’s violence in Dagestan’s regional capital of Makhachkala and nearby Derbent was the latest that officials blamed on Islamic extremists in the predominantly Muslim region in the North Caucasus, as well as the deadliest in Russia since March, when gunmen opened fire at a concert in suburban Moscow, killing 145 people.

The affiliate of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan that claimed responsibility for March’s raid quickly praised the attack in Dagestan, saying it was conducted by “brothers in the Caucasus who showed that they are still strong.”

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War argued that the Islamic State group’s North Caucasus branch, Vilayat Kavkaz, likely was behind the attack, describing it as “complex and coordinated.”

Dagestan Gov. Sergei Melikov blamed members of Islamic “sleeper cells” directed from abroad, but didn’t give any other details. He said in a video statement that the assailants aimed at “sowing panic and fear,” and attempted to link the attack to Moscow’s military action in Ukraine — but also provided no evidence.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gunmen-targets-russia-dagestan-rcna158498

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