ISW Reveals Who Could Be Behind Attack On Dagestan

The militants have released a statement.

A complex and coordinated attack on churches, synagogues and law enforcement structures in the Republic of Dagestan on June 23 was likely carried out by the North Caucasus branch of the Islamic State (IS) under the name of Vilayat Kavkaz.

This is the assessment of the events in Dagestan given by analysts of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), commenting on the attack on an Orthodox church and two synagogues in Derbent and Makhachkala, where unknown persons opened fire.

ISW specialists stress that on June 23, after the attack began, the Russian branch of Al-Azaim Media, a resource of Vilayat Khorasan (a branch of the Islamic State), issued a statement praising "their brothers from the Caucasus" for showing what they are capable of.

However, Al-Azaim did not take responsibility for the attack itself, and the mention of the Caucasus strongly suggests that it was Vilayat Caucasus that was responsible for the attack, ISW believes. We remind you that the Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which includes Russia, specifically warned that the Vilayat Kavkaz organisation became more active after the attack by Vilayat Khorasan on Crocus City Hall on March 22, and has intensified its recruitment in the North Caucasus since April 2024.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War also emphasise that Russian authorities have attempted to conduct a "sluggish" counterterrorism operation in the North Caucasus since March 2024 to combat the growing influence of Islamic State and Vilayat Kavkaz structures. However, the efforts and response of the Russian authorities after the attack on Crocus City Hall instead focused on baselessly blaming Ukraine and NATO for the attack.