At Least 15 Cops Among Dead After ‘Coordinated’ Terror Attack on Religious Sites

At least 15 cops and a priest were slaughtered by terrorists Sunday at religious sites and a police checkpoint in Russia that local officials deemed were “coordinated attacks,” CNN reported, citing state media and authorities. The number of dead and injured rose Sunday night after confirmation by Dagestan's republican leader, Sergei Melikov, according to the BBC . According to the U.K. news service, at least six of the attackers are dead and a manhunt is on for others involved, though they have not been publicly identified. The attacks took place in a pair of cities in Dagestan , a republic of Russia situated between Georgia and the Caspian Sea. Among the dead was a 66-year-old priest who had his throat slit, a Dagestan official said, according to CNN. An exact motive for the slayings was not immediately released, but the attacks almost exclusively targeted religious sites, including at least two synagogues and a church. Late Sunday, videos went viral online of a synagogue in the city of Derbent being set ablaze—with large flames and plumes of smoke billowing out of its windows. The Israeli foreign ministry said the attacks were “combined,” claiming in a statement that the Derbent synagogue had been burned to the ground.

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