Dagestan Governor Sergei Melikov said on Monday that foreign-directed Islamic “sleeper cells” carried out bloody attacks on churches and synagogues on Sunday, killing at least 21 people.
Islamic State congratulated the attackers but did not take direct responsibility for the massacre.
The Russian police killed On Sunday, five militants launched an “anti-terrorist operation” to put an end to the killings in the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent. The terrorists attacked two Orthodox churches, two synagogues and a police checkpoint before they were taken down.
One of the murder victims was the 66-year-old Russian Orthodox priest, Reverend Nikolai Kotelnikov. The Sunday marked Pentecost, or Trinity Sunday, in the Orthodox calendar.
The official death toll rose to 21 on Tuesday after police officials released casualty figures from the attack. I gave in Dagestan authorities said 16 of the dead were police officers, while 46 others were wounded, including 13 police officers.
Russian authorities have released few details about the attackers, likely because dictator Vladimir Putin’s government is still trying to figure out how to use the crime politically. Dagestan has a history of Islamic extremism and ISIS is one of the most well-known terrorists in the country. Violated Following the horrific massacre at a Moscow concert hall three months ago, Russian authorities quickly was suggested The real masterminds behind the attack on Dagestan may be Ukraine, the United States and NATO.
Putin also tried to blame the March massacre on Western shadow puppet masters, but claimed ISIS was responsible for the attack. On Monday, Al-Azaim Media, a Russian-language organization with ties to ISIS, said: Applause It claimed ISIS was behind the massacre in the Dagestan republic but stopped short of directly claiming responsibility or identifying the killers as Islamic State operatives.
“Our latest call did not have to be waited long,” Al-Azaim media wrote, suggesting the attackers were responding to a call for violence from the Islamic State leadership.
“Our compatriots from the Caucasus have let us know that they are still strong. They have demonstrated their capabilities,” the statement said.
Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Washington, DC Said On Monday, the Islamic State’s North Caucasus branch, Wilayat Kavkaz, said it was likely responsible for a “complex and coordinated attack.”
ISW pointed to social media videos that appeared to show Russian police capturing two suspected attackers alive on a public beach, as well as a Telegram post in which a source close to Russian security services identified the two Makhachkala attackers as the sons of a Dagestan official, Magomed Omarov.
police Attacked Police arrived at Omarov’s home on Sunday night and detained him for questioning, and local authorities dismissed him from his job as a district official. He was also expelled from United Russia, a pro-Putin party, and his profile was removed from the party’s website.
ISW noted that the Islamic State has increasingly preferred to claim responsibility for large-scale attacks without directly admitting responsibility or describing the attackers as Islamic State soldiers, a stance that would be consistent with Wilayat Caucasus’ self-image as an ISIS affiliate with its own leadership, identity and territory in the North Caucasus region.
“Some Russian officials have already made baseless claims that Ukraine and NATO were involved in the June 23 attacks, underscoring that Russia’s current counterterrorism efforts are likely to remain tied to rhetorical posturing toward Ukraine and the West, rather than focusing on identifying and neutralizing the ISIS threat on Russian soil,” ISW noted.
One of them is Sergei Melikov, a lieutenant general in the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and governor of the Republic of Dagestan. Carefully Selected In 2016, he was appointed special envoy for the North Caucasus, and in 2020 he was appointed to govern the Republic of Dagestan, succeeding former governor Vladimir Vasiliev. Resigned The reason is unknown.
In a video speech Posts Speaking to Telegram on Monday, Foreign Minister Melikov described the attack as “a tragic day for Dagestan and the entire country” and strongly suggested that Ukraine and its Western allies bore responsibility.
“We understand who was behind planning these terror attacks. We understand what the organisers were trying to achieve. They were making preparations, including from abroad,” he said. Said.
Melikov did not provide details but said the attack showed that “war has come to our homes,” likely referring to the war in Ukraine.
Melikov too Condemned When he announced Omarov’s dismissal and expulsion from United Russia, he suggested that he had at the very least been a terrible father and a terrible civil servant who didn’t realize that his sons had become terrorist “killers.”
Dagestan parliament member Abdulhakim Gadzhiev explicitly accused Ukraine and NATO countries on Sunday of being “behind the attacks” aimed at “destabilizing our country from within” and overturning Russian victories on the battlefield.
“There is no doubt that these terrorist attacks are somehow connected with the intelligence services of Ukraine and NATO countries,” Gadzhiev said in his Telegram post.
