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Updated at 4.30pm
FIVE WOMEN HAVE been shot dead in an apparent radical Islamist attack on an Orthodox church in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, officials and local media said.
According to local press reports an unidentified gunman fired at worshippers at an Orthodox church in the town of Kizlyar in the mainly Muslim region.
“An unknown man opened fire with a hunting rifle in Kizlyar, fatally wounding four women,” the regional internal affairs ministry said in a statement.
A fifth woman died of her injuries in hospital, health ministry spokeswoman Zalina Mourtazalieva told TASS news agency.
Two Russian police officers were injured in the attack.
The attacker was “eliminated” by police fire, the regional internal affairs ministry added.
According to a local official the assailant was a local man in his early twenties, the Interfax news agency reported.
The Russian RBK daily quoted an Orthodox priest saying the attacker had opened fire on churchgoers following an afternoon service.
“We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran towards the church shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘God is greatest’) and killed four people,” Father Pavel told RBK.
“He was carrying a rifle and a knife,” he added.
Dagestan, bordering Chechnya, is one of the poorest and most unstable regions of Russia.
Islamist rebels from the region, which lies immediately east of Chechnya, are known to have travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State group.
In 2015, IS declared it had established a “franchise” in the North Caucasus.
It has claimed a number of attacks on police in Dagestan in the last couple of years that have involved guns and explosives, as local security forces battle a simmering Islamist insurgency.
Sunday’s shooting comes exactly one month before the March 18 presidential election that Vladimir Putin is almost guaranteed to win.
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Dagestan an overwhelmingly Muslim enclave. Only stating a fact
@Osean Drive:
OK. …your point being? Because the fact you stated is too arbitrary to not have a point.
Is this a passive / aggressive way of victim blaming?
Only asking.
@Osean Drive: This doesn’t have much to do with Islamic extremism. It’s more separatists who happen to be Muslim.
Can’t get a word in edgeways with all the Islamic groups and their apologists (lefty Liberal feminists) condemning this type of act.
There’s no end to it
@BillRochdayle: Russia are lucky these attacks dont get they media attention that would have created if it was in the west. Terrorism only works if it does exactly that, create a fear and spread their power even more..
I suppose the Clonskeagh gang are super busy trying to hide the truth about Islam
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aided and abetted by the Journal.ie collaborators…
@Moccy Fondoo:
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ps. – Page captured and going viral on Facebook
@Moccy Fondoo:
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Biased News = FAKE News
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Ohhh, better not condem Islamic Terrorism or your comment will be deleted!..
@Dj: Just happened to me. Just like Clint Eastwood’s new movie has got bad reviews in certain circles because he was not sympathetic enough to the Islamic terrorist trying to shoot up the commuter train. There is madness abroad in these times.
@Pat Seamus: John Lennon was right! Most wars in the world have been fought over religions of one sort or another.
@Pat Seamus: Psalm 137:9 “Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.”
John 15:6 “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”
2 Chronicles 15:13 “That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.”
That’s from the Christian Bible.
My 100% factual comment about “Allahu ackbar ” deleted.
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journal.ie is a total JOKE….!!!
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I have been barred for telling the TRUTH….!!!
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False Claim: ‘Allah’ is simply the Arab word for ‘God.’
Fact: ‘God’ in Arabic is translated ‘ilah,’ not ‘Allah.’
Allah = الله (alif ا, lam ل, lam ل, ha ه)
ilah = اله (alif ا, lam ل, ha ه)
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False Claim: ‘Akbar’ means ‘great.’
Fact: ‘Akbar’ in English is translated ‘greater,’ not ‘great.’
Great = كبير (Kebir)
Greater = أكبر (Akbar)
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Narrated Anas: The Prophet set out for Khaibar and reached it at night. He used not to attack if he reached the people at night, till the day broke. So, when the day dawned, the Jews came out with their bags and spades. When they saw the Muslims; they said, “Muhammad and his army!” The Prophet said, Allahu–Akbar! (Allah is Greater) and Khaibar was destroyed, for whenever we approach a nation (i.e. enemy to fight) then it will be a miserable morning for those who have been warned.”
Sahih Bukhari 4:52:195
One must also note that if the word “Allah” meant “God”, why then would he be telling the Jews of Khaibar (who supposedly worship the same god) that Islam’s Allah is greater?
Answer, – ” Allahu–Akbar.” means – ” Allah is greater than Yaweh.”
” Yaweh.” being the God of Judaism & Christianity…
If this was the U.S. everyone would be on about gun control but now its Russia nobody has anything to say? Ok he was a muslim and was connected to IS but he was still able to get a gun? What gun control have Russia?
God bless each and every one of you…
have your say