At least 15 policemen and a priest were killed in bloody attacks on two churches in Dagestan, Russia

15 policemen and a number of civilians, including a priest, were killed in armed attacks on a synagogue, two Orthodox churches, and a police checkpoint, yesterday, Sunday, in Dagestan, in the North Caucasus region of Russia.

The Russian Interior Ministry said on Monday that the attack resulted in the injury of 16 people, including 13 policemen, in addition to the killing of a number of civilians that it did not specify, while no evidence has yet been available as to the identities of the perpetrators of these attacks or their motives.

For its part, the Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee announced the end of the "anti-terrorism operation after eliminating the threats to the lives and health of citizens" as of 05:15 GMT.

In a video clip posted early Monday on the Telegram app, Sergei Melikov, the governor of Dagestan, announced the start of three days of mourning, and said: “This is a day of tragedy for Dagestan and the entire country.”

Melikov said that more than 15 policemen “fell victims” of what he described as a “terrorist attack,” but he did not specify the number of dead and wounded among these policemen, adding that he “knows who is behind the attacks and the goal they are seeking,” referring to the ongoing war. in Ukraine.

The official TASS news agency also quoted a security source as saying that “the gunmen who carried out the attacks are supporters of an international terrorist organization,” which he did not name, while the Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee announced the killing of two attackers in Derbent, while the Russian Interior Ministry announced the killing of 4 others in Mahj. fort.

The attack came three months after 145 people were killed in an attack claimed by ISIS that targeted a music hall near Moscow. It was the worst attack of its kind in Russia in years.

Official Russian media quoted law enforcement authorities as saying that among the attackers were two sons of the head of the Sarjukala region in central Dagestan, and that investigators had detained them.