Two men stabbed one policeman to death and wounded another in Dagestan in Russia’s North Caucasus on Monday before being shot dead by police in an attack claimed by Daesh.
It was the second attack in Russia in 10 days claimed by Daesh after a man armed with an axe wounded seven in the Siberian city of Surgut on August 19.
Russian investigators have said they are investigating both attacks as criminal incidents, despite the claims by Daesh.
The attackers used knives to stab the two police officers before being “eliminated” at a petrol station in the Caspian Sea town of Kaspiisk, the regional Investigative Committee said.
Daesh later claimed responsibility through its Amaq propaganda agency.
The claim came after a reporter on Rossiya 24 television quoted law enforcement sources as saying that one of the attackers had a black jihadist banner in his rucksack.
The reporter said it appeared to be “an attempt to repeat” recent stabbings in western Europe claimed by Daesh.
An unidentified source also told the state TASS news agency that investigators found two knives and items with the IS logo.
Extremists from Dagestan, which lies immediately east of Chechnya, are known to have traveled to join Daesh. In 2015, the group declared it had established a “franchise” in the North Caucasus.
Daesh 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.

Source: Arab News