MOSCOW – Four women were shot dead in an attack on an Orthodox church inthe North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, officials and local mediasaid.

According to local press reports an unidentified gunman fired atworshippers at an Orthodox church in the town of Kizlyar.

“An unknown man opened fire with hunting rifle in Kizlyar, fatally woundingfour women,” the regional internal affairs ministry said in a statement. ARussian police officer and a local resident were injured in the attack.

The attacker was “eliminated ” by police fire, the statement added.

According to a local official the assailant was a local man in his earlytwenties, the Interfax news agency reported. The Russian RBK daily quotedan Orthodox priest saying the attacker had opened fire on churchgoersfollowing an afternoon service.

“We had finished the mass and were beginning to leave the church. A beardedman ran towards the church shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘God is greatest’) andkilled four people,” Father Pavel told RBK. “He was carrying a rifle and aknife,” he added.

Dagestan, bordering Chechnya, is one of the poorest and most unstableregions of Russia and has struggled against an insurgency. It is often thescene of attacks, some claimed by the militant Islamic State group. – APP/AFP