Deadly assaults on synagogues & Orthodox churches in Russia: As it happened

Three days of mourning were declared in Dagestan following the spate of terrorist attacks on Sunday, the region’s administration wrote on their official Telegram channel. All entertainment events on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be canceled while flags will be flown at half-staff during the mourning period.

The active phase of the counterterrorism operation against militants in both Derbent and Makhachkala has now been completed, but the investigation will continue until all members of the “sleeper cells” are identified, the regional head Sergey Melikov has added.

A total of five militants were neutralized during the counter-terrorism operation in Makhachkala and Derbent, the Head of the Republic of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov said in a statement early on Monday morning.

At the same time, more than 15 police officers were killed fighting off the terrorists at the cost of their lives, the Dagestani leader said, expressing condolences to the fallen.

At leave five police officers were killed in the line of duty amid the Sunday spree of violence in Dagestan, according to a security source cited by RIA Novosti.

Five militants have been “neutralized” by security forces in Dagestan, the National Antiterrorism Committee reports. The security body previously said that two gunmen were killed in the city of Derbent.

Perpetrators of the violence in Dagestan apparently want to incite sectarian hatred, Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church has said. It is paramount that this “diabolic” goal is not achieved, he said, as he extended condolences to everyone affected by the tragedy.

The fire at the synagogue that came under attack in Derbent has been fully doused, TASS reported, sharing images from the scene.

The Russian Jewish Congress, a national organization representing a large part of the Jewish community, has offered its account of how the attack on the synagogue in Derbent unfolded. It said a police squad was parked outside the synagogue for security, while several private guards were stationed inside.

“The officers and the guards faced the main strike of the assailants and were killed resisting them,” the statement said.

The terrorists proceeded to use firebombs to set the building on fire, the Congress added. A similar attack targeted a synagogue in Makhachkala, it claimed, offering no further details.

The Jewish organization said that the same assailants targeted an Orthodox church and “savagely” killed its priest. It expressed condolences to everyone affected by the tragedy.

A total of 16 people, including 13 policemen, were rushed to the main regional hospital in Makhachkala throughout the day, Dagestani police have said.

The news agency TASS has released blurred images that it says are of the bodies of the two gunmen killed in Derbent.