Videos posted by Dagestan’s interior ministry showed gunmen on the loose in the city of Makhachkala. Photo: Screen grab
Gunmen opened fire on synagogues and churches in two cities in southern Russia on Sunday, killing at least 15 police officers and a priest, in what is suspected to be apparently coordinated attack.
According to the head of the Dagestan Republic, Sergey Melikov, six of the militants were killed after shootouts in the two cities, Makhachkala and Derbent, in the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea. Wielding rifles and Molotov cocktails, they attacked a synagogue and a church in each of the two cities, according to the authorities and religious organizations.
Sergei Melikov, Dagestan’s governor, described the attack as the latest assault “on our fraternity, on our multiethnic unity.”
The precise death toll was not immediately clear. Mr. Melikov said that “more than 15 police officers fell victim to today’s terrorist attack,” without specifying how many of them were killed and how many were wounded, the report said.
However, the motives and identities of the gunmen were also unclear, and there was no claim of responsibility for the attack.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, an analogue to the F.B.I., said it had begun a terrorism investigation.
The attack was the latest outburst of apparent extremist violence inside Russia as the country fights its war against neighboring Ukraine. Four gunmen killed 145 people at a Moscow concert hall in March in an attack for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility. And in Dagestan last October, an antisemitic mob stormed a plane arriving from Tel Aviv.
In Derbent, the attackers set fire to a synagogue after shooting and killing the police officers who were guarding it, the Russian Jewish Congress said. They also killed a priest, Nikolai Kotelnikov, according to a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church. The priest was the only confirmed victim of Sunday’s attack who was not a law-enforcement officer, although Mr. Melikov said “several” civilians had been killed.
At about the same time, early Sunday evening, gunmen also opened fire on a traffic police post in Makhachkala, according to state media reports. The attackers’ targets also included Makhachkala’s Cathedral of the Assumption, according to state media reports, and a synagogue, according to the Russian Jewish Congress.
Video and photos showed large flames and plumes of smoke billowing heavily out of a synagogue in Derbent. Photo: Screen grab.
Videos posted by Dagestan’s interior ministry showed gunmen on the loose in the city of Makhachkala, opening fire and forcing people out of their cars. At one point, police said roads leading out of the city were blocked. It remained unclear late Sunday whether any gunmen remained at large, though Mr. Melikov said the “active phase” of the police response was over.
The mayhem highlighted the long-running ethnic and religious tensions in Russia, particularly in the country’s southern Caucasus region, which includes Dagestan. Patriarch Kirill I, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said it was “no coincidence” that the attack took place on the day Orthodox Christians observe Pentecost.
“We see that the enemy is not giving up on attempts to destroy interreligious peace and harmony within our society,” Kirill said in a statement.
Left unsaid was who, exactly, the enemy was. There was no comment from the Kremlin and the authorities said little about the identities of the attackers, though some state media reports said some of the gunmen may have been sons of a local official.
After the March shooting at a Moscow concert hall — Russia’s deadliest terrorist attack in 20 years — Russian officials repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Ukraine and the West were behind the violence, even though the Islamic State claimed responsibility for it.
On Sunday, some Russian politicians also pointed a finger at the West, without evidence. Leonid Slutsky, a senior lawmaker, claimed that the attacks had “the aim of sowing panic and dividing the people of Russia” and that “the blood of the victims” was also on the hands of the United States.
The attacks were the latest incident to rattle Russia’s Jewish community, which has faced increased threats since the beginning of the war in Gaza, according to community leaders. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was in contact with Jewish community leaders in Dagestan, and that there were no known casualties among that community.
俄羅斯達吉斯坦省的教堂和猶太教堂內有槍手殺害警察和牧師
週日，槍手向俄羅斯南部兩座城市的猶太教堂和教堂開槍，造成至少 15 名警察和一名牧師死亡，這起顯然是協同襲擊事件。
達吉斯坦共和國總統謝爾蓋·梅利科夫表示，里海達吉斯坦穆斯林人口多數的地區馬哈奇卡拉和傑爾賓特兩座城市發生槍戰，六名武裝分子被打死。 據當局和宗教組織稱，他們揮舞著步槍和燃燒彈，襲擊了兩座城市的猶太教堂和一座教堂。
達吉斯坦省長謝爾蓋·梅利科夫將這次襲擊描述為「對我們兄弟情誼、對我們多民族團結」的最新攻擊。
目前尚不清楚確切的死亡人數。 報導稱，梅利科夫表示，“今天的恐怖襲擊中有超過 15 名警察成為受害者”，但沒有具體說明其中有多少人被殺、有多少人受傷。
不過，槍手的動機和身分也尚不清楚，也沒有人聲稱對這起攻擊負責。
俄羅斯調查委員會（類似聯邦調查局）表示已開始恐怖主義調查。
這次襲擊是俄羅斯境內最近一次明顯的極端主義暴力事件的爆發，當時該國正在與鄰國烏克蘭進行戰爭。 3 月份，四名槍手在莫斯科音樂廳發動攻擊，造成 145 人死亡，伊斯蘭國聲稱對此負責。 去年十月，在達吉斯坦，一群反猶太暴徒襲擊了一架從特拉維夫抵達的飛機。
俄羅斯猶太大會稱，在傑爾賓特，攻擊者開槍打死了守衛一座猶太教堂的警察，隨後放火燒。 據俄羅斯東正教發言人稱，他們還殺害了一名牧師尼古拉·科捷爾尼科夫。 這名神父是周日襲擊事件中唯一確認的非執法人員受害者，不過梅利科夫表示，有「幾名」平民被殺。
根據官方媒體報道，大約在同一時間，週日傍晚，槍手還向馬哈奇卡拉的一個交警哨所開槍。 根據官方媒體報道，襲擊者的目標還包括馬哈奇卡拉的聖母升天大教堂，據俄羅斯猶太大會稱，襲擊者的目標還包括一座猶太教堂。
達吉斯坦內政部發布的影片顯示，馬哈奇卡拉市有槍手在逃，他們開槍並迫使人們下車。 警方稱，通往城外的道路一度被封鎖。 週日晚間，尚不清楚是否還有槍手在逃，但梅利科夫表示，警方反應的「積極階段」已經結束。
這場混亂凸顯了俄羅斯長期存在的種族和宗教緊張局勢，特別是在該國南部高加索地區，包括達吉斯坦。 俄羅斯東正教主教基里爾一世表示，襲擊發生在東正教基督徒慶祝五旬節當天「並非巧合」。
基里爾在一份聲明中說：“我們看到敵人並沒有放棄破壞我們社會內部宗教間和平與和諧的企圖。”
沒有說清楚敵人到底是誰。 克里姆林宮沒有發表評論，當局也沒有透露襲擊者的身份，但一些官方媒體報道稱，一些槍手可能是當地官員的兒子。
3月莫斯科音樂廳槍擊事件——俄羅斯20年來最嚴重的恐怖攻擊事件——發生後，俄羅斯官員在沒有證據的情況下多次聲稱烏克蘭和西方國家是這起暴力事件的幕後黑手，儘管伊斯蘭國聲稱對此負責。
週日，一些俄羅斯政客也在沒有證據的情況下將矛頭指向西方。 資深議員列昂尼德·斯盧茨基(Leonid Slutsky)聲稱，這些襲擊的目的是“散佈恐慌並分裂俄羅斯人民”，而且美國手上也沾滿了“受害者的鮮血”。
據社區領導人稱，這些襲擊是令俄羅斯猶太社區感到不安的最新事件，自加薩戰爭爆發以來，該社區面臨越來越多的威脅。
以色列外交部在聲明中表示，正在與達吉斯坦的猶太社區領導人保持聯繫，該社區沒有已知的傷亡。
Source: CNN/ NYT
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