Russia attack: gunmen kill police officers as church and synagogue targeted

Gunmen opened fire at a synagogue, an Orthodox church and a police post in Russias North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, killing six policemen and injuring 12, the interior ministry said. A local religious organisation in the mainly Muslim region put the death toll at nine, including seven police officers. The interior ministry, quoted by Russian news agencies, said four gunmen had been shot dead as the incidents unfolded. A local official said another had been killed during a shootout at a church in Makhachkala, the regions main administrative centre. An Orthodox priest also was reported to have been killed. Restive Dagestan was hit by an Islamist insurgency in the 2000s, spilling over from neighbouring Chechnya, with Russian security forces moving aggressively to combat extremists in the region. Read more here: , russia, attack, terror