Connect with us

Foreign

Six Police officers, others killed as gunmen attack Churches

Published

on

ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad

Gunmen on Sunday attacked synagogues and churches in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan, killing a priest, six police officers, and a member of the national guard, security officials said.

The attacks took place in Dagestan’s largest city of Makhachkala and in the coastal city of Derbent, where gunfights were ongoing.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened criminal probes over “acts of terror”, while the hunt for the gunmen was ongoing.

Witnesses could hear shooting near a church in Makhachkala while shootouts were continuing in Derbent, the TASS state news agency reported. Dagestan’s interior ministry said it had killed two of the gunmen in Makhachkala.

Advertisement

Sunday is a religious holiday in the Russian Orthodox Church called Pentecost Sunday. Dagestan is a largely Muslim region of Russia, neighbouring Chechnya.

“This evening in the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala armed attacks were carried out on two Orthodox churches, a synagogue and a police check-point,” said the National Antiterrorism Committee in a statement to RIA Novosti news agency.

“As a result of the terrorist attacks, according to preliminary information, a priest from the Russian Orthodox Church and police officers were killed.”

In all, six police officers had been killed and another 12 wounded in the attacks, the spokeswoman for Dagestan’s interior ministry, Gayana Gariyeva, told RIA Novosti.

Advertisement

Russia’s National Guard said one of its officers had been killed in Derbent and several others wounded.

A 66-year-old priest was killed in Derbent, the press secretary of Dagestan’s interior ministry, Gariyeva told the agency.

– Synagogues on fire –
Dagestan’s RGVK broadcaster named the priest as Nikolai Kotelnikov,saying he had served more than 40 years in Derbent.

“The synagogue in Derbent is on fire,” the chairman of the public council of Russia’s Federation of Jewish Communities, Boruch Gorin wrote on Telegram.

Advertisement

“It has not been possible to extinguish the fire. Two are killed: a policeman and a security guard”.

He added: “The synagogue in Makhachkala has also been set on fire and burnt down.”

Gorin wrote that in Derbent, firefighters had been told to leave the burning synagogue because of the risk that “terrorists remained inside”.

He added: “There is shooting in the streets around the synagogue”.

Advertisement

The leader of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, wrote on Telegram: “This evening in Derbent and Makhachkala unknown (attackers) made attempts to destabilise the situation in society.

“They were confronted by Dagestani police officers.”

Russia’s FSB security service in April said it had arrested four people in Dagestan on suspicion of plotting a deadly attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall concert venue in March, which was claimed by Islamic State.

Militants from Dagestan are known to have travelled to join the Islamic State group in Syria.

Advertisement

In 2015, the group declared it had established a “franchise” in the North Caucasus.

Dagestan lies east of Chechnya where Russian authorities battled separatists in two brutal wars, first in 1994-1996 and then in 1999-2000.

After the defeat of Chechen insurgents, Russian authorities have been locked in a simmering conflict with Islamist militants from across the North Caucasus that has killed scores of civilians and police.

AFP

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Warning: Undefined variable $user_ID in /home/naijuinz/public_html/wp-content/themes/zox-news/comments.php on line 49

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Foreign

Trump says Iran has 22% of missiles left

Published

on

By

ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad

Iran still has “21, 22 per cent” of its missiles left, US President Donald Trump said Friday, in a week in which Tehran fired dozens of them toward regional neighbours, despite a sputtering ceasefire.

“They still have capacity. They have some missiles, they have some drones. I would say, percentage wise, maybe 21, 22 percent of their missiles,” Trump told NBC News in an interview.

That figure for Iran’s missile stockpile is higher than one of 18 per cent Trump gave in May. He has often claimed to have completely destroyed Iran’s war-fighting capacity.

Iran’s military said Friday it had fired “warning missiles” at two US destroyers in the Gulf of Oman — a claim promptly denied by the US military. Two days earlier, Kuwait said it had intercepted 30 ballistic missiles fired as part of “heinous Iranian aggression.”

Advertisement

AFP

Continue Reading

Foreign

US, allies oppose Bolivia President Paz’s ouster as unrest grow

Published

on

By

ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad

The United States and allies on Friday condemned the ongoing efforts to overthrow the elected government of President Rodrigo Paz in Bolivia.

The Shield of the Americas member states said “mob rule” cannot replace the decision that most Bolivians made at the ballot box to remove “two decades of corrupt governments.”

The U.S., Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago signed the joint statement.

They affirm support for the Paz administration as it resists “attempts to drag Bolivia backwards through cynical efforts to prevent the delivery of food, medicine and other vital supplies.”

Advertisement

“Those who are funding these protests with dirty money from drug trafficking and transnational crime should be held accountable,” the allies urged.

The governments encouraged people who have grievances to dialogue with the government, warning against abusing their causes to “regain power.”

President Paz admitted Bolivia has been pushed to a “breaking point” amid weeks of widespread protests and a blockade that has paralyzed major cities.

Farmers, miners, transport workers and teachers are demanding immediate measures to ease the country’s worst economic crisis in four decades.

Advertisement

Defence Minister Marcelo Salinas and Education Minister Beatriz Garcia resigned this week as demonstrators continue to demand Paz’s resignation, a call he rejects.

The government accuses ex-President Evo Morales of fuelling unrest, which opposition figures believe could end with a referendum to decide whether Paz should remain in office.

Continue Reading

Foreign

Russia claims deadly drone strike varsity hostel killed 21 students

Published

on

By

ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Zoom Ad

Russian authorities have accused Ukraine of carrying out a deadly drone attack on a university complex in Starobelsk, in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region, claiming that 21 students were killed in the strike.

According to a statement circulated by Russian officials, the attack occurred on the night of May 22 and targeted the academic building and dormitory of Lugansk State Pedagogical University.

Russian authorities alleged that 16 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including four heavy drones, were deployed in three waves during the operation.

Officials described the incident as one of the deadliest attacks on a civilian educational facility in the region since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, claiming that the victims were students residing in the university dormitory.

Advertisement

“Just a week ago, they were students with dreams, plans and a future. Today, all that remains are photographs, memories and unbearable grief,” the statement said.

The authorities further alleged that the strike was deliberate and targeted civilians rather than military infrastructure.

The claims could not be independently verified, and Ukrainian authorities had not publicly responded to the allegations at the time of filing this report.

Since the start of the conflict, both Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of carrying out attacks on civilian infrastructure, allegations that are often difficult to verify independently due to ongoing hostilities and restricted access to affected areas.

Advertisement

The reported incident has renewed concerns among humanitarian organizations about the impact of the war on educational institutions and young people caught in the conflict.

The Russia-Ukraine war, now in its fifth year, has resulted in thousands of civilian casualties, widespread displacement and extensive damage to homes, schools, hospitals and critical infrastructure across both countries.

International observers have consistently called for independent investigations into attacks involving civilian casualties, regardless of the parties involved, to establish the facts and ensure accountability under international humanitarian law.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2024 Naija Blitz News