Moscow: Five women were on February 18 shot dead in an apparent radical Islamist attack on a church in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan, officials and local media said.
According to local press reports, an unidentified gunman fired at worshippers at an Orthodox church in the town of Kizlyar in the mainly Muslim region, reports agencies.
“An unknown man opened fire with a hunting rifle in Kizlyar, fatally wounding four women,” the regional internal affairs ministry said in a statement.
A fifth woman died of her injuries in hospital, health ministry spokeswoman Zalina Mourtazalieva told TASS news agency.
Two Russian police officers were injured in the attack.
The attacker was “eliminated” by police fire, the regional internal affairs ministry added.
According to a local official the assailant was a local man in his early twenties, the Interfax news agency reported.
The Russian RBK daily quoted an Orthodox priest saying the attacker had opened fire on churchgoers following an afternoon service.
“We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran towards the church shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘God is greatest’) and killed four people,” Father Pavel told RBK. “He was carrying a rifle and a knife,” he added.