Six police officers have been killed and 12 were wounded after gunmen opened fire in a series of shootings in Russia’s Dagestan region, its interior ministry says.
The attacks targeted a synagogue and an Orthodox church in Derbent as well as a traffic police post later in Makhachkala.
A priest was also killed in the attacks, according to reports.
Four of the gunmen have reportedly been shot dead.
A local official said another gunman had been killed during a shootout at a church in Makhachkala, the region’s main administrative centre.
It was also reported some attackers were holed up in a building in Derbent, which police were preparing to storm.
A local religious organisation put the total number of dead at nine, including seven police officers.
A counter-terrorist operation is ongoing to search for gunmen in Derbent and Makhachkala, which is the chief administrative town in Dagestan, Russia’s national anti-terrorist committee said in a statement.
“Unidentified people fired at a synagogue and a church with automatic weapons,” Reuters reported the interior ministry said.
The synagogue and church were both set on fire, added the ministry.
The attackers then reportedly fled in a car.
There was later an exchange of gunfire at a police post in Makhachkala, about 125km (75 miles) to the north along the Caspian Sea coast, Reuters added.
Police were preparing to storm a building where gunmen were holed up in Derbent, an unofficial channel on the Telegram messaging app Mash said.
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Derbent is home to an ancient Jewish community in the South Caucasus and a UNESCO world heritage site.
Dagestan is a mainly Muslim region in southern Russia.
