Nineteen people, including four civilians, were killed in “terrorist” attacks in Dagestan on Sunday. According to Moscow, five attackers were eliminated by the police. 20 minutes takes stock of these terrorist attacks while the Kremlin has just announced the end of anti-terrorist operations in this Russian region of the Caucasus.
What happened in Dagestan this Sunday?
Armed men attacked a synagogue and two Orthodox churches in the Russian Caucasus this Sunday, the authorities announced last night, denouncing “terrorist” acts. The attacks took place in the capital of the Russian republic of Dagestan, Makhachkala, and the coastal city of Derbent. Sunday’s attacks targeted “two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police checkpoint”, quickly clarified the Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK), cited by the Ria Novosti agency. Jewish representatives, including the Russian Jewish Congress, said a second synagogue was also attacked. Images, reported by Russian media, showed a burning building, presented as a synagogue.
Armed individuals also opened fire on a vehicle carrying police officers, injuring one of them, in Sergokala, a village located between Makhachkala and Derbent, the local Interior Ministry further clarified to Russian agencies. Authorities have not clarified whether these individuals were the same as those who carried out attacks in Makhachkala or not.
What is Dagestan?
Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim Russian region neighboring Chechnya, also close to Georgia and Azerbaijan. Anti-terrorist operations are regularly announced there by the Russian authorities. Three days of mourning have been declared there, from Monday to Wednesday, the local administration said.
What is the death toll?
Nineteen people, including four civilians, were killed and five attackers were eliminated by the police, the Russian Investigative Committee, in charge of the investigations, announced early Monday morning. “According to preliminary data, 15 law enforcement officers were killed, as well as four civilians, including an Orthodox priest,” investigators said in a statement. During the anti-terrorist operation which ended Monday morning, “five people” were “liquidated.” Their identity has been established,” they added, without specifying whether the attackers were still at large or not.
The priest killed in Derbent is a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, aged 66, according to the authorities. Authorities also said a National Guard officer died, and another police officer succumbed to his injuries.
Is this the first terrorist attack in Dagestan and Russia?
Anti-terrorist operations are regularly announced in Dagestan by the Russian authorities. In October, riots hostile to Israel broke out at Makhachkala airport. A crowd of men had invaded its tarmac, amid tensions across the world linked to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, when a plane from Israel landed.
As for Russia, it has been targeted on multiple occasions by attacks and attacks claimed by the Islamic State, even if its influence remains limited in the country. This series of attacks described as “terrorist” by the Russian authorities comes three months after the attack claimed by Daesh on Crocus City Hall, a concert hall in the suburbs of Moscow. This attack left more than 140 dead and revived the threat of Islamist terrorism in the country.
Russia faced an Islamist rebellion in the early 2000s in the Caucasus, a movement born from the first conflict against separatist Chechnya in 1994-1996. It had been defeated by Russian federal forces and in recent years, armed incidents there have been rare. Nearly 4,500 Russians, particularly from the Caucasus, fought alongside IS in Iraq and Syria, according to official figures.
What is the outcome of the anti-terrorist operation?
The anti-terrorist operation launched in the region in the wake of the attacks ended Monday morning. “Due to the neutralization of threats to the life and health of citizens, it was decided to end the anti-terrorist operation” in Dagestan from 5:15 a.m., the Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee said. “In Derbent, the active phase of the anti-terrorist operation is over,” said this source, cited by Russian agencies.
The leader of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, reported “six bandits liquidated” as part of this operation, ensuring that the attacks were notably prepared “from abroad”. It was not immediately clear whether all of the attackers had been killed in this operation or whether some had been able to escape. No information on their motivations or their identity has yet filtered out.
In videos published by Russian media, gunshots could be heard in the streets of Makhachkala, where a large police force was deployed. The authenticity of these images could not immediately be verified by AFP.
What are the reactions of Russia and Dagestan?
Russian society is “consolidated” in the face of terrorism, the Kremlin said on Monday. On Sunday evening, the leader of Dagestan Sergei Melikov assured that “unknown persons had tried to destabilize society”. “We know who is behind these terrorist attacks and what objective they are pursuing,” he subsequently assured, in a video posted on Telegram, without specifying who was in the viewfinder but alluding to the conflict in Ukraine. “We must understand that war comes to our homes too. We felt it, but today we face it,” he added.
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The Russian Investigative Committee indicated that it had opened a criminal investigation into “terrorist acts”, without further details. As for Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and fervent supporter of the Kremlin, he assured that “the enemy” sought to destroy “interreligious peace” in Russia. Its goal is to “plant the seeds of hatred”, he denounced, without naming those responsible.