Panicked-stricken people and police were seen in Russia’s volatile Dagestan region. The area plunged into mourning on June 24 following attacks against houses of worship in the regional capital, Makhachkala and Derbent, with an ancient Jewish community.
The Investigative Committee, the country’s top state criminal investigation agency, said all five attackers were killed after horrific battles. Of the 19 other people killed, 15 were police.
Among the dead was the Reverend Nikolai Kotelnikov, a 66-year-old Russian Orthodox priest at a church in Derbent. Local authorities said the attackers slit his throat before setting fire to the church. The attack came as the Orthodox faithful celebrated their Pentecost, also known as Trinity Sunday.
Shortly after the attacks in Derbent, militants reportedly fired at a police checkpoint in nearby Makhachkala. They attacked a Russian Orthodox Church and a synagogue before being hunted down and killed by special forces. Medical authorities in Dagestan said 16 people, including 13 police, were hospitalized with injuries, including four officers in grave condition. The bloodshed was the latest that officials blamed on Islamic extremists in the predominantly Muslim area in the North Caucasus.