A terrorist attack in southern Russia's Dagestan killed at least 15 police officers and four civilians, including an Orthodox priest, Gov. Sergei Melikov said early Monday.
The armed militants opened fire on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police post in two cities, according to the authorities.
Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee described the attacks in the Muslim-majority region, with a history of armed insurgency, as terrorist acts.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were declared days of mourning in the region.
Dagestan's Interior Ministry said a group of armed men shot at a synagogue and a church in the city of Derbent, located on the Caspian Sea.
Both the church and the synagogue caught fire, according to state media. Almost simultaneously, reports appeared about an attack on a church and a traffic police post in the Dagestan capital, Makhachkala.
Authorities announced a counterterrorist operation in the region. The Anti-Terrorist Committee said five gunmen were "eliminated."
The governor said six "bandits" had been "liquidated." The conflicting numbers couldn't be immediately reconciled and it wasn't clear how many militants were involved in the attacks.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. The authorities launched a criminal investigation on the charge of a terrorist act.
Russian state news agency TASS cited law enforcement sources as saying that a Dagestani official was detained over his sons' involvement in the attacks.
Melikov said in the video statement that the situation in the region was under control of the law enforcement and local authorities and vowed that the investigation of the attacks would continue until "all the sleeping cells" of the militants are uncovered.
He claimed, without providing evidence, that the attacks might have been prepared from abroad and referenced what the Kremlin calls "the special military operation" in Ukraine in an apparent attempt to link the attacks to it.
In March, gunmen opened fire on a crowd at a concert hall in suburban Moscow, killing 145 people. An affiliate of the Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, but Russian officials also sought to link Ukraine to the attack without providing any evidence. Kyiv has vehemently denied any involvement.
