Gun attack kills one in Russia’s Dagestan

An unidentified assailant has opened fired on tourists in the Dagestan Republic of Russia’s violence-prone North Caucasus region, killing one person and injuring 11 others. 

The incident took place in the southeastern Dagestan city of Derbent late Tuesday. Tatyana Abdullayeva, a local heath official, told AFP that five of the wounded were in serious condition.

The deceased victim, who was a border guard, and the rest of the victims have been identified as Dagestan residents, who came under fire from a nearby forest. Another border guard was also among the injured.

The gunman is being sought. The tourists were paying a visit to the republic’s historic citadel.

Ramazan Abdulatipov, Dagestan’s leader, said the attack could have been staged by “bandit groups” that “continue to take vengeance for the peace and tranquility the people of Derbent live in,” Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.

Russia has since the mid-1990s been fighting militants in its North Caucasus region, where Dagestan as well as the republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia have been the scene of sporadic attacks and militant clashes. Armed conflict claimed 118 lives in Dagestan from the beginning of the current year until November.

Violence first broke out in Chechnya in 1994, when 250,000 people were forced to flee to neighboring territories because of a war between Chechen separatists and the Russian army.

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