Officials in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus republic of Daghestan say an imam and another person have been shot dead in an attack on a mosque.
Officials said the attackers also set the mosque on fire in the attack shortly before midnight on June 28 in the settlement of Karamakhi, in the Buinaksk district.
According to a spokesman for the Daghestani Interior Ministry, several masked men broke into the mosque and opened fire at imam Magomedkamil Gamzatov and a visitor.
The spokesman said the attackers then set the mosque on fire and fled in a “stolen car.”
The fire was reportedly extinguished by local residents.
There was no immediate indication of who may have been responsible.
Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS