MOSCOW (Web Desk) – An armed attack on tourists visiting an ancient fortress has left one person dead and 10 others injured in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Dagestan.
The attack occurred when twenty tourists were on a panoramic terrace of the Naryn-Kala fortress in Derbent city on Tuesday night, the Russia Today reported.
Media cited local police as saying that the gunmen aimed at the tourists’ flashing cameras to make sure they hit people. Eleven people were wounded and taken to the hospital, where one of them died.
Police found 67 cartridges of various caliber bullets at the scene of the attack. According to investigators, the attackers fired from a nearby forest.
The head of the region believes the attack was carried out by “militants from an armed gang who are taking revenge on locals, because they enjoy New Year’s festivities.”
The Nary-Kala fortress in Derbent dates back to the 8th century AD. It houses Russia’s oldest mosque and madrasa, or Islamic religious school. Russia troops took control of the fortress in 1796, during a war between Russia and Persia.
