No fewer than 15 police officers and several civilians have died following attacks on police posts, churches and a synagogue in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan.

An Orthodox church priest was among those killed, and a police post was torched in Makhachkala, Dagestan’s largest city, in Sunday’s deadly attack.

Six gunmen were also killed.

The coordinated attacks targeted the cities of Derbent and Makhachkala on the Orthodox festival of Pentecost. 

Dagestan, one of the poorest parts of Russia, is a predominantly Muslim republic. Between 2007 and 2017, the Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus launched attacks in Dagestan and the neighbouring Russian republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.

Republic’s head, Sergei Melikov, who confirmed the deadly attack, said the assailants had not been identified.

Mr Melikov revealed that Dagestan had, in the past, been the scene of Islamist attacks.

He explained that several civilians had lost their lives, including a priest, Father Nikolai, who he said had served in Derbent for more than 40 years.

“We understand who is behind the organisation of the terrorist attacks and what goal they pursued,” Mr Melikov said. 

Meanwhile, Russia has declared a three-day mourning period, starting June 24 to 26. The flags will be lowered to half-mast, and all entertainment events will be cancelled. 

The head of the country’s federation of Jewish communities called on people to avoid reacting to “provocation,” the Russian media said. 

In the 2000s, the restive region was hit by an Islamist insurgency spilling over from neighbouring Chechnya with the Russian security forces. 

Security forces moved aggressively to combat extremists in the region. 

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said attacks in the region had become rarer and that it had defeated the Islamic insurgents in the region in 2017.

Russian authorities had pointed to militant Muslim elements in previous incidents in the region. 

In October, after the war in Gaza broke out, rioters waving Palestinian flags broke down glass doors and rampaged through Makhachkala airport to look for Jewish passengers on a flight arriving from Tel Aviv.