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2024 Dagestan attack

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On 23 June 2024, the 2024 Dagestan attacks took place, when coordinated terrorist attacks were launched with rifles, automatic weapons, and Molotov cocktails against targets in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala in the Russian republic of Dagestan in the North Caucasus.[5][6] Two synagogues, two Eastern Orthodox churches, and a traffic police post were attacked simultaneously.[7][8][9]

2024 Dagestan attacks
Part of Terrorism in Russia
Islamic State insurgency in the North Caucasus
The Kele-Numaz Synagogue in Derbent, which was almost completely destroyed by fire as a result of the attacks
LocationDerbent and Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia
Date23 June 2024
~18:00–23:00 (MSK)
TargetTwo churches, two synagogues, and a road police post[1]
Attack type
WeaponsSchmeisser AR15 Ultramatch rifles, AK–style assault rifles, and Molotov cocktails
Deaths27[2](15 police officers, 7 civilians, 5 perpetrators,)[2]
Injured44 (37 police officers, 7 civilians)[3]
Perpetrators Islamic State – Caucasus Province (per ISW)[4]

The Head of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, reported that 15 police officers and several other civilians were killed including a priest, along with at least five perpetrators.[10][11] Russian authorities designated the attack as an act of terror.[12]

Background

The North Caucasus region of southern Russia has been embroiled in conflict since the 1990s. This predominantly Muslim-populated area experienced two significant wars involving the separatist Chechen republic from 1994 to 2000. Following the Chechen wars, a series of terrorist attacks and clashes between Russian and Islamist forces persisted into the 2010s. Since 2017, the North Caucasus has seen a resurgence of violence, attributed to the Islamic State.[13] In 2015 the group announced that it had established a "franchise" in the North Caucasus.[14]

The Jewish community of Derbent, a part of the Jewish diaspora known as the Mountain Jews, dates back to the 6th century, when Persian Jews (who had emigrated to Persia after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem) settled in Derbent along the Silk Road trade route.[15][16]Since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war in October 2023, Russia's Jewish community has faced increasing threats of violence. [17][18][19] On 28 and 29 October of the same year, antisemitic riots broke out in the Muslim-majority regions of the Northern Caucasus, including in Dagestan. In March 2024, an attack at a Moscow concert hall killed 145 people; the following month, Russia’s FSB security service arrested four people in Dagestan suspected of involvement in the attack.[20] This was the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades, and was claimed by the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP).[13]

Attacks

Derbent

 
Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin in Derbent

On the evening of 23 June 2024, shortly before 6 pm local time, an attack was launched at the Orthodox Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin on Lenin Street in Derbent, Dagestan's second-largest city, by attackers with rifles, automatic weapons, and Molotov cocktails.[21][22][23][6][5][12] The attackers slit the throat of the 66-year-old priest, set an icon of the church ablaze, and set the church on fire.[21][22][23][6][5] It was one of two churches that were attacked during one of the most important holidays in the Orthodox calendar, Pentecost Sunday in the Russian Orthodox Church, reportedly as attackers yelled "Allahu Akbar".[24][25][14][26]

At approximately the same time, in addition to the church, the Derbent Kele-Numaz Synagogue, which had been established in 1914, was fired upon with automatic weapons, and set on fire by the attackers.[17][27][28] Telegram users posted videos showing police cars being shot at, and the synagogue on fire.[29]

The attackers fled in a white Volkswagen Polo. Nineteen people sought shelter in the church before being rescued.[30]

Makhachkala

Almost simultaneously with the attacks in Derbent, attacks were launched against targets in Makhachkala, Dagestan's capital and largest city, about 75 miles (125 kilometers) away.[22][27][14][31]

A fire was started in a synagogue on Ermoshkina Street in Makhachkala.[27][14][31] The fire was reportedly extinguished, and no victims were reported.[32][33]

The militants also simultaneously attacked Makhachkala’s Cathedral of the Assumption, another Russian Orthodox church.[27][23]

At the same time, unknown militants also fired at a traffic police post in Makhachkala, and forced people out of their cars.[27] A video showed militants in black clothing in Makhachkala shooting at passing police cars with machine guns.[29]

At approximately 19:00 local time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs posted a video showing the attackers firing at police officers on Magomedgadzhiev Street in Makhachkala. The faces of several militants were visible in the footage.[29]

Perpetrators

Conflicting reports emerged initially as to the number of attackers. The Head of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, said that six “bandits” had been "liquidated", while the National Antiterrorism Committee initially said five gunmen had been "eliminated".[34] Authorities later said that four attackers were killed by police in Makhachkala, while two others were killed in Derbent.[35]

Russia's state-run news agency TASS said the attackers were "followers of an international terrorist organization" and that law enforcement officials were identifying their handlers and organizers, but failed to name the organization.[36][37] Many militants from Dagestan traveled to join the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and in 2015 the group declared that it had established a "franchise" in the North Caucasus.[38][39]

The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that the Islamic State – Caucasus Province (Wilayat Kavkaz), a branch of the Islamic State, likely conducted the attack.[40] The Islamic State – Khorasan Province's Al-Azaim Media account shortly after the attack praised "their brothers in the Caucasus" for demonstrating what they were capable of. However, the ISW noted that Al-Azaim did not directly claim responsibility for the attacks, and opined that its reference to the Caucasus strongly suggested that Wilayat Kavkaz was responsible for the attack.[40][4]

Russian media reported that two sons and a nephew of Magomed Omarov, the head of Dagestan's Sergokalinsky District, were among the perpetrators of the Makhachkala attack.[41][42] They were subsequently killed during a confrontation with the police.[43][44] Omarov himself submitted a resignation letter, was detained, and is being questioned by the Russian Federal Security Service.[45] Later, Omarov was expelled from the United Russia party, the ruling political party in Russia, "for actions that discredit United Russia".[46][47]

Five attackers who were killed were identified as:

While some of the attackers initially fled in a car, it was not immediately clear whether the five suspects who were killed accounted for all of the attackers, or if instead more of the attackers were still believed to be on the loose.[54]

Victims

The Head of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, reported that 15 police and Rosgvardiya officers and several civilians were killed, along with either five or six perpetrators.[30][10] At least 46 others were injured in the attacks, including 13 police officers. Four of the injured police officers were described as being in "grave" condition.[55]

Among the civilian casualties was 66-year-old Father Nikolay Kotelnikov, who had served the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin in Derbent for over four decades and was killed there by the attackers. The priest's throat was slashed in front of his parishioners.[56][57] The attackers reportedly broke into the church shortly after its holiday Sunday evening service; other clergy at the church managed to lock themselves in safely, and were later rescued.[26] The church's security guard, armed only with a gas pistol, was shot and killed by the attackers.[29][58]

Reactions

Patriarch Kirill I, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, said it was “no coincidence” that the attack took place on the day Orthodox Christians observe Pentecost. He said that "the enemy is not giving up on attempts to destroy interreligious peace and harmony within our society."[5]

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered condolences to the victims of the attacks.[59] Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia's commissioner for human rights, condemned the perpetrators of the attacks, and expressed condolences for those affected.[60] Melikov blamed members of Islamic "sleeper cells" directed from abroad.[38][61] The Head of Ingushetia, Mahmud-Ali Kalimatov, claimed that the terrorist attacks and a Ukrainian bombing in Sevastopol that occurred on the same day were linked together as attempts by "enemies" to destabilize the country.[62] Head of the Committee on International Affairs of the State Duma Leonid Slutsky wrote on Telegram that the attacks were planned from outside Russia for the purpose of "sowing panic and dividing the Russian people", and connected it to the missile attack on Sevastopol that occurred on the same day.[63][64] Member of the People's Assembly of the Republic of Dagestan Abdulkhakim Gadzhiyev posted on Telegram that there was "no doubt" that the intelligence services of Ukraine and NATO countries were connected to the attacks.[65] At the same time, Federal Senator Dmitry Rogozin called for not considering the terrorist attack as "the machinations of Ukraine and NATO", since, in his opinion, if all such attacks are explained in this way, it will lead to problems.[66] President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov called the attack an attempt to cause "discord between faiths".[65]

The Israeli foreign ministry and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia said that the synagogue of Derbent had been "burned to the ground".[6][67]

Harold Chambers, a political and security analyst specializing in the North Caucasus, said that the Russian authorities "were definitely caught off guard by this attack," adding "What we're seeing here is still this disconnect between Russian counterterrorism capability and what the terrorists capability is inside of Russia."[23] Tanya Lokshina, of research group Human Rights Watch, called the attack "a giant failure of the [Russian] intelligence agencies."[12]

Aftermath

The Russian anti-terrorism agency said on 24 June that the "anti-terror operation" earlier launched against the perpetrators had ended after it killed five of the gunmen in Dagestan.[39][68]

Melikov published on his Telegram channel a video showing the remains of the Kele-Numaz Synagogue, which was almost completely destroyed by the fire.[69][70]

The government of Dagestan declared a three-day national mourning period from 24 to 26 June for those killed in the attacks.[71] On these days of mourning, national flags were to be flown throughout the territory of the republic. Cultural institutions and television and radio companies in Dagestan were to cancel all their entertainment events and programs.[72][73]

See also

References

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  2. ^ "Six militants eliminated in Dagestan" (in Russian). Interfax. 24 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
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  33. ^ "Нападения в Махачкале и Дербенте: что известно на данный момент" [Attacks in Makhachkala and Derbent: what we currently know]. BBC News Русская служба (in Russian). 23 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
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  56. ^ [1]
  57. ^ Furman, Lera (23 June 2024). "Дербентское жертвоприношение. Убитый террористами дербентский священник всю жизнь прослужил в одном храме и был запечатлен в бронзе за 5 лет до своего мученичества" [Derbent sacrifice. The Derbent priest that was killed by terrorists had served in one church all his life and was immortalized in bronze 5 years before his martyrdom]. Novaya Gazeta Europe (in Russian). Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  58. ^ Deaton, Darya Tarasova, Jen (23 June 2024). "Priest and police officer killed in attacks on synagogue and church in Russia's Dagestan". CNN. Retrieved 23 June 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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  69. ^ "Внутри — пепелище. Видео из сожженной синагоги в Дербенте" [Inside - ashes. Video from the burnt synagogue in Derbent]. fontanka.ru (in Russian). 24 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
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  71. ^ "Власти Дагестана объявили трехдневный траур в связи с терактами" [Government of Dagestan announces three-day mourning period in association with terrorist attacks]. Interfax (in Russian). 24 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
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