Security forces cordoned off roads with armoured vehicles during a counter-terror operation against gunmen who killed at least 16 people across Russia’s Dagestan region.
The terror threat was officially declared over on Monday after officials said six of the gunmen were killed in shootouts in Makhachkala and Derbent, two major cities in the mainly Muslim region on the Caspian Sea.
The terrorists attacked a synagogue and a church in each of the cities with rifles and Molotov cocktails on Sunday.
Dagestan’s regional governor declared the beginning three days of mourning on Monday following the killings of an Orthodox priest, multiple police officers and several others in the attack.
“Following the neutralisation of the threats to the lives and health of citizens, it was decided to end the anti-terrorist operation in Dagestan from 0515 GMT,” Russia’s National Antiterrorism Committee said.
It was not immediately clear how many were killed in the attacks, but Sergei Melikov, Dagestan’s governor, said on Sunday: “More than 15 police officers fell victim to today’s terrorist attack.”
The gunmen also “brutally murdered” a priest, Nikolai Kotelnikov, according to a spokesman for Russia’s Orthodox Church. He was the only confirmed civilian victim from Sunday’s attack, but Mr Melikov was quoted as saying “several” civilians had also been killed.