Shootings in Makhachkala frighten city residents

Shooting during a militant attack in Makhachkala frightened people, and it became difficult to move around the city because of the cordons arranged by law enforcers, local residents said.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on June 23, the Christian holiday of the Holy Trinity, militants attacked an Orthodox church and a synagogue in Derbent, and a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint was shelled in Makhachkala. According to the preliminary information, fifteen law enforcers and four civilians, including an Orthodox priest, were killed in the attacks.

The Ministry for Public Health of Dagestan reports that as of June 24, twenty people were killed and 46 others were injured.

Zemfira, a resident of Makhachkala, said that she was going to visit her aunt, who lived not far from the Orthodox temple which was attacked by the militants. “We heard shooting. We got scared and called our relatives. They said that they had closed all the doors and windows and were sitting at home, as some kind of special operation was going on,” the woman explained.

On June 23, Maryam, a resident of Makhachkala, took her children to a city beach. “Shooting started, the police ran onto the beach and chased someone. People got scared, threw their things, and started running away from the beach,” the woman said.

The suspects detained on the Makhachkala beach were probably not militants, and they had no firearms, bur they could be “caught with drugs on a tip,” reports the “Mash” Telegram channel.