However police sources say the man had not been wanted by police as a member of illegal armed or militant groups
The death toll from the church shooting in Dagestan’s Kizlyar has risen to five, a spokeswoman for the republican health ministry said. “As of now, the death toll has risen to five after a woman died of wounds in hospital,” said Zalina Murtazaliyeva, told TASS, Russian News agency.
A spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee’s directorate for Dagestan told TASS that the shooter who opened gunfire at people leaving a church in Dagestan’s Kizlyar had been identified as a 22-year-old local resident.
The incident took place in Dagestan’s Kizlyar on Sunday. Some sources say the shooter opened gunfire in a church, others say he was shooting at people, mostly women, leaving the church. The man was shot dead by police when trying to flee the scene. As a result of shooting five people were killed and five more were wounded.
“The shooter (who was killed) has been identified. He is a local resident of 22 years of age,” the spokesman said, adding that a criminal case had been opened over the incident.
The Islamic State group however claimed credit for the attack on the church, at first issuing a bulletin on its Amaq news agency. It was followed by a lengthier official statement in which it 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-IS channels on Telegram, the app, released a video showing a man said to be the assailant sitting before the IS flag, his face covered by a ski mask
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) February 18, 2018
Meanwhile, a source in the local law enforcement agencies said that the young man had not been wanted by the police as a member of illegal armed groups or a militant accomplice. The shooter had a sporting gun, bullets and a knife on him, as reported by RT.
