Jun 24, Kathmandu- Indiscriminate attacks by unknown gunmen in Russia and the withdrawal of security personnel have resulted in heavy casualties.

Nineteen police officers and many civilians were killed in an attack on a police station, a church and a synagogue in Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan. BBC reported that six gunmen were also killed.

At least 16 injured people have been taken to hospital. Three days of mourning have been declared in the Muslim-majority republic of Dagestan, a neighbor of Chechnya in southern Russia.

Father Nikolai Kotelnikov, an Orthodox priest, was among those who were killed in a planned attack targeting the towns of Derbent and Makhachkala during the Orthodox festival of Pentecost.

In the video footage that has surfaced on social media, people dressed in black can be seen shooting at the police car. The attackers attacked a synagogue and a church and set fire to it. Dagestan has been a centre of Islamic invasion in the past.

However, the attacker has not been identified officially. The gunmen were also two sons of the chief of Sergokalinsky district near Makhachkala. One person has been detained by the police.

In a video posted on Telegram, the head of the republic, Sergei Melikov, indicated that Ukraine was involved in the invasion and that Dagestan was now directly involved in Russia's war on Ukraine.

Russian news agencies have reported that the counter-terrorism operation launched after the attack on Monday morning has ended.