At least 20 dead after gunmen go on rampage in Russia’s Dagestan region

Damage inside the Kele-Numaz synagogue in Derbent after the attack, in an image taken from a video posted on Telegram by the head of Russia's Dagestan republic. Photo: AP

Guy Faulconbridge

The death toll from a series of attacks on churches and synagogues in ­Russia’s mainly Muslim Dagestan region rose to 20 yesterday after gunmen went on the rampage in co-ordinated attacks in two of the republic’s most important cities.

Gunmen with automatic weapons burst into an Orthodox church and a synagogue in the ancient city of Derbent on Sunday evening, setting fire to an icon and killing a 66-year-old Orthodox priest, Nikolai Kotelnikov.