Dagestan, in the southwestern region of Russia, observed its first of three times of mourning on Monday following an attack by Islamic militants that killed 20 people, mainly officers, and attacked Christian and Jewish homes of worship in two places.
The violence that occurred on Sunday in the predominantly Muslim region of the North Caucasus, Makhachkala, and near Derbent, was the most recent instance of Islamic extremists being blamed on. It was also the deadliest in Russia since March, when militants opened fire at a concert in residential Moscow, killing 145 people.
An Islamic State affiliates in Afghanistan rapidly apologised for the raid in March and claimed that the Caucasus brothers carried out the attack and that they are still strong.
The Washington- based Institute for the Study of War argued that the Islamic State team’s North Caucasus tree, Vilayat Kavkaz, good was behind the assault, describing it as” intricate and organized”.
Dagestan Gov. Sergei Melikov blamed members of Islamic” sleeper cells” directed from abroad, but did n’t give any other details. He claimed in a video statement that the attackers attempted to” sow panic and anxiety” in Ukraine and that they attempted to connect the assault with Russian military actions, but he also offered no proof.
Despite the Islamic State affiliate’s state of duty, President Vladimir Putin sought to blame Ukraine for the March attack, once more without any supporting evidence. Kyiv has strongly denied any involvement.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokeswoman for the Kremlin, stated that Putin had been informed of the information about the attacks on Sunday and of his efforts to assist the victims.
The Investigative Committee, the country’s best express criminal investigation firm, said all five attackers were killed. Of the 20 individuals killed, at least 15 were authorities.
At least 46 people were hurt, according to Dagestani health officials. Of those, at least 13 were officers, with four soldiers hospitalized in grave problem.
The Rev. was one of the deceased. Nikolai Kotelnikov, a 66- yr- aged Russian Catholic priest at a chapel in Derbent. According to Shamil Khadulayev, deputy head of a regional public monitoring system, the intruders slit his throat before starting the temple. The Catholic honest celebrated Pentecost, also known as Trinity Sunday, as a result of the invasion.
Melikov, the Dagestan government, said Sunday that also among the deceased were a Russian Orthodox believer and 18 Muslims.
Derbent’s Kele-Numaz church likewise set on fire.
Prior to the attacks in Derbent, militants opened fire on a police station in Makhachkala, attacked a church it, and then killed themselves with the aid of special forces.
According to Russian media reports, Magomed Omarov, the leader of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party’s Extendible local branch, had two sons and a nephew among the attackers. Omarov was detained by police for investigation, and United Russia immediately dismissed him from its rates. Eventually, according to Russian state media reports, Melikov claimed Omarov had been fired from his position.
In Dagestan, almost daily attacks on police and various government were attributed to radical extremists in the early 2000s. Numerous residents of the area regrouped with the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
Although the murder in Dagestan has decreased over the past few years, crowds rioted at an air-port there in October, targeting an Israeli journey as a signal that extremist views are also prevalent there. When hundreds of men rushed onto the runway, rushed passengers, and threw stones at the police, none of whom were Israelis, there were more than 20 people hurt.
The Kremlin’s claim that ethnic and religious organizations coexist peacefully in Russia was challenged by the aircraft frenzy.
Russia’s top safety agency reported that it had dismantled a “terrorist body” in southern Russia following the music hall attack in March, and that it had detained four of its members after offering cash and weapons to alleged intruders in Moscow.
Harold Chambers, social and security researcher specializing in the North Caucasus, noted the government ‘ response to Sunday’s strike “was significantly more than we have seen in the past, but still lacking, especially with comment time”.
” They were certainly caught off guard by this attack”, he said. ” We’re also seeing this disconnect between Russian terrorism ability and what the terrorists ability is inside of Russia,” the statement continues.
