Il Nuovo Postiglione - Dagestan attack toll hits 20 as Russia launches terror probe

The attacks on Sunday came just three months after Islamic State (IS) group fighters killed more than 140 in a Moscow concert hall, the deadliest attack on Russia for almost 20 years, raising fresh questions about Russia's security apparatus.

Moscow said on Monday it had concluded an "anti-terrorist operation" and killed five of the assailants behind the attacks in the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent.

The incidents had echoes of the kind of insurgent violence that struck the North Caucasus during the 1990s and 2000s, but the Kremlin on Monday dismissed fears of a renewed wave of attacks.

Russia has been a target in recent years for IS, which opposes Moscow's military support for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and claims to have set-up a "franchise" in Russia's North Caucasus.

- Assailants 'liquidated' -

At least 20 people were killed and another 26 injured in the attacks, Dagestan's regional health ministry said Monday.

Fifteen of those killed were law enforcement officers, according to Russia's federal Investigative Committee.

"Of those 26, some are more serious so the first figure of 20 (killed) could still change," a spokesperson for Dagestan's regional health ministry told AFP.

"In the course of suppressing the criminal actions, five people involved in committing the crime were liquidated," the Investigative Committee said.

It was unclear how many had taken part in the attacks, and investigators said they were still working to "identify other persons involved."

The attackers had targeted two Orthodox churches, two synagogues and a police checkpoint in the regional capital Makhachkala and Derbent, a historic city on the coast of the Caspian Sea.

The Russian Orthodox Church said its archpriest Nikolai Kotelnikov was "brutally killed" in his church in Derbent.

- 'War comes to our homes' -

In the 1990s and 2000s, separatist and militant groups waged guerrilla-style campaigns against Russian authorities in the mountainous North Caucasus following the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Asked whether Moscow feared a possible return of such violence, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "No. Now there is a different Russia. Society is consolidated and such terrorist manifestations are not supported by society in Russia or in Dagestan."

Moscow fought two wars for control of the neighbouring Chechnya region, with President Vladimir Putin touted his success in quashing the insurgency at the start of his presidency.

Russia's Investigative Committee said it had launched criminal probes over "acts of terror", while Dagestan Governor Sergei Melikov called the attacks an attempt to "destabilise" his region.

"We know who is behind these terrorist attacks and what objective they are pursuing," he added, without providing specific details but making references to the conflict in Ukraine.

"We must understand that war comes to our homes too. We felt it but today we face it," he said, adding that authorities were hunting for "sleeper cells" that had trained the attackers with assistance from abroad.

He said later on Monday the perpetrators were from Dagestan, Russian state news agencies reported.

After the deadly attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall in March, Putin initially said Kyiv had a hand in planning that assault.

This was despite no evidence and an IS affiliate claiming responsibility on multiple occasions.

Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a fervent supporter of the Kremlin, said the "enemy" was seeking to destroy "inter-religious peace" in Russia, without naming who he believed was responsible.

- Pool of blood -

Melikov visited a church and synagogue in Derbent on Monday.

He posted videos showing a pool of blood in the church and the charred interior of the synagogue, completely burned out after assailants threw Molotov cocktails at the building.

Russian authorities frequently announce successful "anti-terrorist operations" targeting alleged IS fighters from the North Caucasus.

The FSB security service in April said it had arrested four people in Dagestan on suspicion of plotting the deadly attack on Moscow's Crocus City Hall.

Tensions are running high in the Muslim-majority region since the start of the war in Gaza in October last year.

In October, an angry crowd stormed the local airport when reports circulated on social media that a plane was arriving from Israel.

Q.Bernardi--INP