Keystone-SDA
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June 24, 2024 – 7:41 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS) Russia announced on Monday the end of armed clashes in Dagestan, in the Caucasus, where attacks the day before against Orthodox churches and at least one synagogue left twenty dead and dozens injured.
The “anti-terrorist” operation carried out in this unstable region with a Muslim majority and neighboring Chechnya ended Monday morning and five attackers were “liquidated”, announced the Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee, which ensures that “their identity has been established ”.
However, it was not clear whether other attackers had been able to escape and no information on their motivations was leaked.
This series of attacks described as “terrorist” by the Russian authorities comes three months after the attack claimed by the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS) committed at the Crocus City Hall, a concert hall in the suburbs of Moscow, which leaves 145 dead.
No return of Islamist insurgencies
However, the Kremlin on Monday swept away any idea of a possible return of an Islamist insurrection in the Caucasus, as in the 2000s, in the wake of the second Chechen war.
“Russia has changed, society has consolidated and such terrorist manifestations are not supported by society,” assured the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov.
President Vladimir Putin has still not commented on these attacks, which were not immediately claimed and which took place in Makhachkala, capital of Dagestan, and in the coastal town of Derbent.
Dagestan was the scene of repeated armed clashes with jihadists in the 2000s, like a large part of the Caucasus. This Islamist insurgency was put down by Russian forces after many years of combat, and Russia was no longer used to this type of attacks.
“Despicable crime”
The attacks on Sunday targeted “two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police checkpoint”, according to the Investigative Committee, which opened an investigation for “terrorist acts”.
According to Dagestan health authorities, these attacks carried out in the regional capital Makhachkala and in the city of Derbent left twenty dead and 26 injured, including members of the security forces and civilians. According to investigators, at least fifteen police officers are among the dead, as well as an Orthodox priest.
The chief rabbi of Russia, Berl Lazar, denounced a “vile crime”, guided by the desire to “kill as many innocent people as possible”.
On Monday, the leader of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, visited the synagogue and church in Derbent, targeted by the attackers, according to his services.
Jewish representatives, including the Russian Jewish Congress, said a second synagogue was also burned during the attacks.
“We know who is behind these terrorist attacks,” Mr. Melikov said on Sunday, without further details. “War comes to our homes too. We felt it, but today we face it,” he added, seeming to want to establish a link with Ukraine.
Three days of mourning
The Russian authorities, without ever providing evidence, have already accused kyiv of having played a role in the bloody attack, claimed by ISIS, on Crocus City Hall.
Armed individuals also opened fire on Sunday against a vehicle carrying police officers, injuring one of them in Sergokala, a village located between Makhachkala and Derbent, according to the local Interior Ministry. Authorities have not clarified whether these individuals were the same as those who carried out attacks in Makhachkala and Derbent or not.
Local authorities in Dagestan have declared three days of mourning, from Monday to Wednesday.
In October 2023, riots hostile to Israel broke out at Makhachkala airport.
Russia has been targeted on multiple occasions by jihadist attacks and attacks. Last weekend, several ISIS members were killed after taking two corrections officers hostage in a prison. The jihadist organization also threatened Moscow because of its support for the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.
