IS claims responsibility for Dagestan terror attack, Russia suspects Ukraine

In the terrorist attack and hours-long gun battle in various locations in Dagestan, 15 police officers and 5 civilians were killed. In addition, 6 terrorists were eliminated. In addition, 46 people were hospitalized, including 4 police officers who were seriously injured.

The head of Russia's Dagestan Republic, Sergei Melikov (center), visits the Kele-Numaz synagogue, which was attacked and set on fire by terrorists in Derbent on June 24, 2024. Photo: Telegram/Sergei Melikov

The terrible terrorist attack

In near-simultaneous terrorist attacks in two cities 80 miles apart, attackers killed security guards and threw Molotov cocktails at the Kele-Numaz Synagogue in Derbent, which has been Jewish for 2,000 years. They also attacked Derbent’s largest Orthodox church, setting it on fire and killing its 66-year-old pastor, Nikolai Kotelnikov.

In Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, terrorists attacked the Assumption Cathedral, threw petrol bombs at the city's synagogue and opened fire at a traffic checkpoint, killing two police officers.

Al Azaim Media, a Russian-language channel affiliated with the Islamic State in Khorasan province, posted on Sunday evening after the fighting had subsided that they had been waiting for this moment for a long time and that: “Our brothers from the Caucasus told us that they are still strong. They showed their capabilities.”

From Washington, the Institute for the Study of War asserted that IS's North Caucasus branch, Wilayat Kavkaz, could be behind the “complex attack.”

Who are the terrorists?

In yesterday's violence in Dagestan, six attackers were killed, including two sons and a nephew of Magomed Omarov, the head of the ruling United Russia party in Sergokala, a district that straddles Dagestan and Makhachkala. One of the attackers appears to be a well-known mixed martial arts fighter, Ghadzimurad Kagirov.

Three months ago, the ISIS Khorasan branch of IS claimed responsibility for an attack on the Crocus theater in a Moscow suburb that killed 145 people and injured hundreds more.

Last week, in the southern Russian city of Rostov, six prisoners wearing IS scarves and waving IS flags took two prison guards hostage. Police killed all six prisoners and freed the hostages.

Security forces cordon off the Orthodox Cathedral in Makhachkala, Russia's Republic of Dagestan, after a terrorist attack. Photo: Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee

Sabotage plot from "outside forces"?

Despite these local links, some Russian politicians have sought to criticize NATO and Ukraine. Local lawmaker Abdulkarim Gadzhiev blamed “special services of Ukraine and NATO countries.” In Moscow, the head of the Russian State Duma’s foreign affairs committee, Leonid Slutsky, blamed “external forces” for trying to divide Russians and “sow panic.”

“The type of criminal behavior that we saw yesterday in Dagestan is not supported by society, neither in Russia nor in Dagestan,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said after the incident.

Today the Republic of Dagestan has 3,000 mosques, serving a population of 3.2 million, of whom 95% are Muslims. Dagestan has 30 recognized ethnic groups and 13 local languages ​​recognized on par with Russian.

Huy Hoang (according to TASS, Reuters, NYS)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/khung-bo-is-nhan-trach-nhiem-vu-tan-cong-dagestan-nga-van-nghi-ngo-ukraine-post300625.html