On 18 February 2018, a 22-year-old man local to the Russia’s southern republic of

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...

carrying a knife and a

double-barreled shotgun A double-barreled shotgun is a break-action shotgun with two parallel barrels, allowing two single shots to be fired in quick succession or simultaneously. Construction Modern double-barreled shotguns, often known as ''doubles'', are almost u ...

opened fire on a crowd at an Orthodox church in

Kizlyar Kizlyar (russian: Кизля́р; av, Гъизляр; kum, Къызлар, ''Qızlar'') is a town in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located on the border with the Chechen Republic in the delta of the Terek River northwest of Makhachkala, ...

, killing five women and injuring several other people, including two police and three others. He was shot and killed by police on duty nearby. The attack occurred as churchgoers celebrated the

Sunday of Forgiveness Maslenitsa ( be, Масленіца, russian: Мaсленица, rue, Фашенґи, uk, Масниця; also known as Butter Lady, Butter Week, Crepe week, or Cheesefare Week) is an Eastern Slavic religious and folk holiday, which has retai ...

, the last day of Cheesefare week, a Christian holiday marking the last day before

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

according to the eastern Orthodox calendar. The

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

(ISIL) named the man Khalil al-Dagestani, one of its soldiers. Police named him Khalil Khalilov. Pro-ISIL social media later shared a video of a masked man with a shotgun and knife, said to be the killer, pledging his allegiance to

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ( ar, أبو بكر البغدادي, ʾAbū Bakr al-Baḡdādī; born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai ( ar, إبراهيم عواد إبراهيم علي محمد البدري السامرائي, ʾIb ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kizlyar shooting 2018 mass shootings in Europe 21st-century mass murder in Russia Attacks on churches in Europe February 2018 crimes in Europe February 2018 events in Russia History of Dagestan ISIL terrorist incidents Islamic terrorist incidents in 2018 Islamist attacks on churches Mass murder in 2018 Mass shootings in Russia Islamic terrorism in Russia Terrorist incidents in Russia in 2018 Attacks on buildings and structures in Russia