5 killed in shooting attack on worshipers in Dagestan

A man carrying a knife and a hunting rifle opened fire on worshipers Sunday at an Orthodox church in Kizlyar, in the Dagestan region of Russia, killing at least five people and wounding several others, according to a Russian state news agency.

The gunman shouted “Allahu akbar” and began firing, a priest told the local media. Churchgoers said they prevented more casualties by closing the door to the church and stopping the attacker from getting inside.

The man was later shot and killed by security forces on duty at the time. The assailant was identified only as a 22year-old man from the region, the Russian news agency Tass said, citing investigators.

The Islamic State group claimed credit for the attack on the church, issuing a bulletin on its Amaq news agency. It was followed by a lengthier official statement in which it described the assailant as a “soldier of the caliphate” and provided a nom de guerre for the attacker, Khalil al-Dagestani.

The attack took place in Kizlyar, a town of about 50,000 people on the Terek River delta on the border with Chechnya, Tass said.

Four women died at the scene, and a fifth died of her injuries at a hospital, a Health Ministry spokeswoman, Zalina Mourtazalieva, told Tass. Two Russian police officers were among five people injured in the attack.

The Russian RBK daily quoted an Orthodox priest as saying the attacker had opened fire on churchgoers after an afternoon service. The priest, identified as Father Pavel, said: “We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran towards the church shouting ‘Allahu akbar.’ ”

Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim region between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea. Its administration has recently undergone major reforms that, according to some analysts, is meant to show the central government’s commitment to fighting corruption before presidential elections in March.

Two separatist wars in Chechnya have spread to Dagestan. In 2015, the Islamic State declared it had established a “franchise” in the North Caucasus, and it has claimed a number of attacks on police in Dagestan.