Islamic State claims Dagestan church attack: “He targeted the Crusaders with his rifle”

The Islamic State statement reads:

The Targeting of a Christian Church in Kizlyar City of Dagestan

Putting his trust in Allah, one of the zealous soldiers of Islam, Khalil ad-Dagestani (may Allah accept him) set out towards the Christian temple of George in Kizlyar city in Dagestan. He targeted the Crusaders with his rifle, killing 5 of them and wounding 4 others, and to Allah belongs all honor, and to His messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites don’t know, and all praise is due to Allah.

Not that this has anything to do with Islam and all that, but that last bit is from the Qur’an: “They say, ‘If we return to Medina, the more honored will surely expel from there the more humble.’ And to Allah belongs all honor, and to His Messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites do not know.” (63:8)

“ISIS Claims Deadly Attack on Church in Russian Region of Dagestan,” by Andrew E. Kramer and Rukmini Callimachi, New York Times, February 18, 2018:

A man carrying a knife and a hunting rifle opened fire on worshipers on Sunday at an Orthodox church in Kizlyar, in the Dagestan region of Russia, killing at least five people and wounding several others, according to a Russian state news agency.

The gunman shouted, “Allahu akbar” and began firing, a priest told the local news media. Churchgoers said they had prevented more casualties by closing the door to the church and stopping the attacker from getting inside.

The man was later shot and killed by security forces on duty at the time, reports said. The assailant was identified only as a 22-year-old man from the region, the Russian news agency Tass said.

The Islamic State claimed credit for the attack on the church, issuing a bulletin on its Amaq news agency, followed by a lengthier official statement in which the group described the assailant as a “soldier of the caliphate” and provided a nom de guerre for the attacker, Khalil al-Dagestani.

Not long afterward, pro-Islamic State channels on the Telegram app released a video showing a man said to be the assailant sitting before the Islamic State flag, his face covered by a ski mask. A gun and a long knife leaned against the wall behind him, presumably the weapons that would later be used in the attack.

In the video, the man pledges allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader, referring to him as “the Emir of the believers,” the honorific that Islamic State members reserve for the man they view as their caliph.

While the authenticity of the video could not be independently confirmed, Islamic State members and supporters were promoting it online.

Устроивший стрельбу у церкви в #Кизляре, записал видео с присягой Исламскому государству. Представители #ИГ пока никаких заявлений об атаке в #Дагестане не публиковали. pic.twitter.com/xj7LGXgr32

— SsssS (@WaterWarr) Feb. 18, 2018

The attack took place in Kizlyar, a town of about 50,000 people on the Terek River delta on the border with Chechnya, Tass said.

Sunday is the last day before Orthodox Christian Lent. The Russian RBK Daily quoted an Orthodox priest as saying that the attacker had opened fire on churchgoers after an afternoon service.

The priest, identified as Father Pavel, said: “We had finished the Mass and were beginning to leave the church. A bearded man ran towards the church shouting, ‘Allahu akbar.’ ”

Four women died at the scene, and a fifth died of her injuries at a hospital, a Health Ministry spokeswoman, Zalina Mourtazalieva, told Tass. Two Russian police officers were among five people injured in the attack.

The local Interior Ministry said the gunman had acted alone, according to the Interfax news agency.

After the man was shot and killed, photos circulating on media sites online showed the body of a man dressed in camouflage pants lying on the ground. His head was bloodied, and empty cartridges were scattered nearby. Other images showed what appeared to be a weapon….

A recent report by the Soufan Group, which offers strategic security intelligence services to governments and multinationals, determined that countries belonging to the former Soviet Union have sent the highest number of foreign fighters to Syria, accounting for about 8,700 of the estimated 40,000 foreigners who have traveled to join the jihad.