Gunmen kill 19 in Russia's Dagestan region

Moscow: Attacks on churches and synagogues in Russia s Dagestan region killed primarily police officers, officials said Monday, announcing a toll of 1...

Moscow: Attacks on churches and synagogues in Russia's Dagestan region killed primarily police officers, officials said Monday, announcing a toll of 19 dead after violence that stoked fears over Islamist violence in the historically restive North Caucasus.

The assaults launched on Sunday come just three months after Islamic State group fighters killed more than 140 in a Moscow concert hall, the deadliest terror attack on Russia for almost 20 years.

Moscow said on Monday it had concluded an "anti-terrorist operation" and killed five of the assailants behind the coordinated attacks on Sunday evening in the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent.

The incidents also had echoes of the kind of insurgent violence that marred the North Caucasus during the 1990s and 2000s.

Russia has been a target for Islamic State terror in recent years, with the fundamentalist group opposing Moscow's military support for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and claiming to have set-up a "franchise" in Russia's north Caucasus.