Several Killed as Orthodox Church and Synagogue Attacked in Russia's Dagestan

Unknown assailants have attacked two Orthodox churches and a synagogue in Russia's majority Muslim republic of Dagestan, state media reported Sunday, killing at least two police officers, one priest and one security guard.

The attacks took place in Dagestan's capital of Makhachkala and in the coastal city of Derbent, where gunfights were ongoing.

Attackers opened fire at the synagogue and church in Derbent with automatic rifles at around 6:00 p.m. local time before driving away from the scene in a white Volkswagen Polo car, officials reported. 

The synagogue caught fire shortly after the attack, according to videos published online. One policeman was killed and one other wounded in a shootout at the synagogue, regional police said.

Father Nikolai, a 66-year-old priest at the Orthodox church in Derbent, was killed in a knife attack, said Shamil Khadulaev, the chairman of Dagestan's Public Monitoring Commission. He said priests have locked themselves inside the church and are waiting for help.

A security guard at the Orthodox church in Makhachkala was also killed, Khadulaev said.

Separately, a group of unknown assailants attacked a traffic police post in Makhachkala. At least one police officer was killed and six others injured in an ongoing armed standoff that followed the attack, the region’s Interior Ministry said. 

The regional Interior Ministry said two militants have been killed without specifying which city they were killed in.

Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee has introduced a counterterrorism regime in Dagestan, with video posted online showing that roads leading in and out of Derbent have been closed.

Security forces have cordoned off the militants in the city of Derbent and are preparing to storm the building where they are entrenched, Interfax cited regional law enforcement as saying.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it has opened a criminal terrorism probe over the armed attacks in Derbent and Makhachkala.

Residents of Makhachkala have been asked to remain in their homes.

Abdulkhakim Gadzhiev, a State Duma Deputy from Dagestan, claimed without evidence that Ukraine and NATO were behind the attack.

"I think intelligence services of Ukraine and NATO member states could be behind this [attack] ...Because we [Russia] are claiming all-around success in the special military operation, so they want to destabilize the situation inside the country," Gadzhiev was cited as telling reporters in the wake of the attack.

Russia's FSB security service in April said it had arrested four people in Dagestan on suspicion of plotting a deadly attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall concert venue in March, which was claimed by Islamic State.

Militants from Dagestan are known to have traveled to join the Islamic State group in Syria.

In 2015, the group declared it had established a "franchise" in the North Caucasus.

Dagestan lies east of Chechnya where Russian authorities battled separatists in two brutal wars, first in 1994-1996 and then in 1999-2000.

After the defeat of Chechen insurgents, Russian authorities have been locked in a simmering conflict with Islamist militants from across the North Caucasus that has killed scores of civilians and police.

This is a developing story.

AFP contributed reporting.