Two gunmen ‘shot dead’ after Russian synagogue and church set on fire as ‘two police officers and priest killed’

AT LEAST three people have been killed and a further thirteen wounded after gunmen opened fire on a synagogue and a church in Russia.

Two of the deceased include police officers after their post in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan was fired upon during the attack, the region’s interior ministry said.

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An Orthodox church up in flames following the attack in Russia[/caption]

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A synagogue has also been reduced to rubble[/caption]

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Images show two unknown armed men caught on camera[/caption]

Russian news agencies have reported that one officer and a priest were killed when shots were fired at a synagogue and a church in Derbent.

The city is home to an ancient Jewish community in the South Caucasus and a UNESCO world heritage site.

“Unidentified people fired at a synagogue and a church with automatic weapons,” the interior ministry said. “One police officer was killed and one injured.”

The synagogue was on fire after the attack, local outlets report.

The attackers then fled in a car.

Another police officer was killed in an exchange of shots at a police post in Makhachkala, about 75 miles to the north along the Caspian Sea coast.

The main city in Dagestan, it is considered a mainly Muslim region in southern Russia.

Fighting was later reported in the streets of Makhachkala.