MOSCOW: Daesh jihadist group on Saturday claimed responsibility after a man stabbed seven people on the street in a Russian city before being shot dead by police, despite investigators saying it was probably not a terrorist attack.
"The executor of the stabbing operation in the city of Surgut in Russia is a soldier of the Daesh," IS (Daesh) propaganda outlet Amaq said in a statement, after the jihadists also claimed responsibility for twin attacks in Spain that left 14 dead.
The attack also comes a day after a stabbing spree in Finland, which left two people dead and eight others injured and is being investigated as a terrorist attack, although the assailant's motive is unknown.
Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said a man in Surgut had "carried out attacks on passers-by, causing stab wounds". It said armed police called to the scene "liquidated" the attacker following the stabbing on Saturday morning.
Regional officials said seven people were taken to hospital, with the figure confirmed by investigators, who lowered an earlier toll of eight wounded.
A spokesman for regional police had earlier downplayed the possibility of a terrorist incident, telling Interfax news agency that the theory that the incident was "a terrorist (attack) is not the main one".
The Investigative Committee said it had established the attacker's identity, saying he was a local resident born in 1994, and that they were looking into "his possible psychiatric disorders".
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny questioned the authorities' treatment of the incident, writing on Twitter: "Someone runs round with a knife and tries to kill as many people as possible. What is that, if not a terrorist attack?"
Investigators have opened a criminal probe into attempted murder, not terrorism, with the Investigative Committee's chief Alexander Bastrykin taking the case under his personal control.
Regional police said officers fired warning shots at the scene before firing at the suspect, who was wearing a balaclava.
YouTube footage shown on Russia's Ren TV television showed a black-clad man lying on a pedestrian walkway with a policeman kneeling on his back as sirens wail.
Unconfirmed reports from the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid and other media identified the attacker as 19-year-old Artur Gadzhiyev, saying that his father is known to authorities for involvement in radical religious organisations and comes from the mainly Muslim region of Dagestan in the North Caucasus.
Regional officials said four of those stabbed remained in a serious condition while another was stable in hospital. Two have already been discharged.
Russian television reported that the stabbing victims are aged between 27 and 77 and include two women.
State news agency TASS said the city's largest shopping centre was evacuated after the stabbings, citing its director, and police posted a video of the attack site, showing it to be a busy area with traffic and blocks of flats.
The city lies some 2,100 kilometres (1,330 miles) northeast of Moscow in the oil-rich Khanty-Mansi region.
The region's governor was flying out to the city to hold a meeting with investigators, regional authorities said.
The regional government moved to curb panic in the city, insisting the "situation is under the control of the authorities" and calling for calm.
A group suspected of links to Al-Qaeda claimed an April attack on the Saint Petersburg metro that killed 15 people and has been blamed on a Russian suicide bomber born in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan.
Daesh claims Russia knife attack wounding 7
Daesh claims Russia knife attack wounding 7
Locals in Niger say ‘terrorists’ killed 25 near Mali
- “Twenty-five self-defense militia fell on Thursday in terrorist ambushes,” a former mayor said
- The surrounding Tillaberi region is an area of operations of the Sahel branch of the Daesh militant group
ABIDJAN: Local sources in western Niger said “terrorists” killed 25 members of a militia in several villages near the Mali border.
“Twenty-five self-defense militia fell on Thursday in terrorist ambushes,” a former mayor in the commune of Anzourou told AFP — a toll confirmed by a leader from a local civil association.
“There were 25 young self-defense fighters who lost their lives and three others who were wounded and evacuated” to hospitals in Tillaberi town and Niamey, the latter source said.
The surrounding Tillaberi region is an area of operations of the Sahel branch of the Daesh militant group.
Conflict-monitoring NGO ACLED said that in 2025 Tillaberi became the deadliest region in the central Sahel, with more than 1,200 deaths recorded.
It blamed the violence mainly on the Daesh in the Sahel group, followed by the Nigerien army and the Al-Qaeda-linked Group to Support Islam and Muslims (JNIM).
The association source said the victims came from four neighboring villages — Doukou Makani, Doukou Djinde, Doukou Saraou and Doukou Koirategui.
The Anzourou district is made up of around 50 villages and hamlets in Tillaberi, which borders near the area between Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, long the scene of deadly militant attacks.
Niger has been run by a military junta since a coup in July 2023.
For the last decade, the country has been blighted by deadly militant attacks. Since the beginning of the year, there have been nearly 2,000 deaths, according to ACLED.
With the Nigerien army struggling to contain the attacks, it has tolerated the creation of self-defense militias by villagers, leading to bloody clashes with militants.
In December last year, the military regime in Niamey announced a “general mobilization” and the “requisition” of people and property to better fight the Islamists.
Niger has created a 6,000-strong joint force with Mali and Burkina Faso, countries also run by the military and facing militant violence.
