MOSCOW: Five women were shot dead in an apparent radical militant attack on an Orthodox church in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, as Daesh claimed responsibility for the assault.
An unidentified gunman fired at worshippers at the church in the town of Kizlyar in the mainly Muslim region, local press reports said.
The regional internal affairs ministry said in a statement that the assailant used a hunting rifle, and that four women were killed on the spot, while the attacker was “eliminated.”
A fifth woman died of her injuries in hospital, health ministry spokeswoman Zalina Mourtazalieva told TASS news agency.
Two Russian police officers were injured in the attack.
According to a local official the assailant was a local man in his early twenties, the Interfax news agency reported.
The Russian RBK daily quoted an Orthodox priest saying the attacker had opened fire on churchgoers following an afternoon service.
“We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran toward the church shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (’God is greatest’) and killed four people,” Father Pavel told RBK.
“He was carrying a rifle and a knife,” he added.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack.
“A soldier of Islam, Khalil Daghestani, attacked” a church in the town of Kizlyar in Dagestan,” Daesh said via the Telegram messaging app.
“He targeted them with his gun, killing five of them and wounding four others,” it added.
A spokesman for Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill strongly condemned the attack, branding it a “monstrous crime” aimed at “provoking a confrontation between Orthodox Christians and Muslims” in the North Caucasus.
Images published by the local press showed the body of a bearded man dressed in military fatigues who was identified as the assailant.
Next to his corpse lay two of his victims, covered in a white shroud.
Dagestan, bordering Chechnya, is one of the poorest and most unstable regions of Russia. Rebels from the region, which lies immediately east of Chechnya, are known to have traveled to Syria to join Daesh.
In 2015, Daesh declared it had established a “franchise” in the North Caucasus.
It has claimed a number of attacks on police in Dagestan in the last couple of years that have involved guns and explosives, as local security forces battle a simmering extremist insurgency.
Sunday’s shooting comes exactly one month before the March 18 presidential election that Vladimir Putin is almost guaranteed to win.
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Five women killed in Dagestan church shooting claimed by Daesh
Five women killed in Dagestan church shooting claimed by Daesh
Army chief says Switzerland can’t defend itself from full-scale attack
ZURICH: Switzerland cannot defend itself against a full-scale attack and must boost military spending given rising risks from Russia, the head of its armed forces said.
The country is prepared for attacks by “non-state actors” on critical infrastructure and for cyberattacks, but its military still faces major equipment gaps, Thomas Suessli told the NZZ newspaper.
“What we cannot do is defend against threats from a distance or even a full-scale attack on our country,” said Suessli, who is stepping down at the end of the year.
“It’s burdensome to know that in a real emergency, only a third of all soldiers would be fully equipped,” he said in an interview published on Saturday.
Switzerland is increasing defense spending, modernizing artillery and ground systems and replacing aging fighter jets with Lockheed Martin F-35As.
But the plan faces cost overruns, while critics question spending on artillery and munitions amid tight federal finances.
Suessli said attitudes toward the military had not shifted despite the war in Ukraine and Russian efforts to destabilize Europe.
He blamed Switzerland’s distance from the conflict, its lack of recent war experience and the false belief that neutrality offered protection.
“But that’s historically inaccurate. There are several neutral countries that were unarmed and were drawn into war. Neutrality only has value if it can be defended with weapons,” he said.
Switzerland has pledged to gradually raise defense spending to about 1 percent of GDP by around 2032, up from roughly 0.7 percent now – far below the 5 percent level agreed by NATO countries.
At that pace, the Swiss military would only be fully ready by around 2050.
“That is too long given the threat,” Suessli said.
The country is prepared for attacks by “non-state actors” on critical infrastructure and for cyberattacks, but its military still faces major equipment gaps, Thomas Suessli told the NZZ newspaper.
“What we cannot do is defend against threats from a distance or even a full-scale attack on our country,” said Suessli, who is stepping down at the end of the year.
“It’s burdensome to know that in a real emergency, only a third of all soldiers would be fully equipped,” he said in an interview published on Saturday.
Switzerland is increasing defense spending, modernizing artillery and ground systems and replacing aging fighter jets with Lockheed Martin F-35As.
But the plan faces cost overruns, while critics question spending on artillery and munitions amid tight federal finances.
Suessli said attitudes toward the military had not shifted despite the war in Ukraine and Russian efforts to destabilize Europe.
He blamed Switzerland’s distance from the conflict, its lack of recent war experience and the false belief that neutrality offered protection.
“But that’s historically inaccurate. There are several neutral countries that were unarmed and were drawn into war. Neutrality only has value if it can be defended with weapons,” he said.
Switzerland has pledged to gradually raise defense spending to about 1 percent of GDP by around 2032, up from roughly 0.7 percent now – far below the 5 percent level agreed by NATO countries.
At that pace, the Swiss military would only be fully ready by around 2050.
“That is too long given the threat,” Suessli said.
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