Five women were shot dead in an apparent radical Islamist attack on an Orthodox church in the North Caucasus region of Dagestan on Sunday, officials and local media said. According to local press reports an unidentified gunman fired at worshippers at an Orthodox church in the town of Kizlyar in the mainly Muslim region.

"An unknown man opened fire with a hunting rifle in Kizlyar, fatally wounding four women," the regional internal affairs ministry said in a statement. A fifth woman died of her injuries in hospital, health ministry spokeswoman Zalina Mourtazalieva told TASS news agency. Two Russian police officers were injured in the attack.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018