In the southern Russian region Dagestan today passed the first of three days of mourning announced after the attacks by Islamists, which according to the authorities claimed the lives of 20 people, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
In yesterday's attacks on Christian and Jewish houses of worship in two cities, mostly policemen were killed, AP notes.
Yesterday's attacks in the regional capital Makhachkala and in the coastal city of Derbent are the latest in violence that authorities have blamed on Islamic extremists in Dagestan, which is predominantly Muslim. It was also the deadliest attack in Russia since March, when gunmen opened fire at a concert in a suburb of Moscow, killing 145 people.
The Afghan branch of the terrorist organization "Islamic State" claimed responsibility for the attack in March and was quick to praise the attack in Dagestan, saying it was carried out by "the brothers in the Caucasus who showed they are still strong.
The American Institute for the Study of War in Washington said that the branch of the "Islamic State" in the North Caucasus, which bears the name "Vilayat Kavkaz".
The head of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, said members of Islamist "sleeper cells" directed from abroad were responsible for the attack, but gave no other details.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed of yesterday's attack and of efforts to provide aid to those affected by the attacks.
The Russian Investigative Committee said all five attackers were killed. Of the 20 killed, at least 15 people were police officers.
Health authorities in Dagestan reported that at least 46 people were injured. At least 13 of them are police officers, and four are hospitalized in serious condition.
Among those killed by the attackers was 66-year-old Nikolay Kotelnikov, an Orthodox priest in a church in the city of Derbent. According to a representative of the local authorities, the attackers cut the priest's throat before setting fire to the church. The attack was carried out on the day when Orthodox Christians celebrate the feast of Pentecost.
The head of Dagestan said 18 Muslims were among those killed. The "Kele-Numaz" synagogue in the city of Derbent was also set on fire.
Shortly after the Derbent attacks, militants fired on a police post and the city of Makhachkala, and attacked a Russian Orthodox church and synagogue in the regional capital before being killed by special forces.