Three dead as gunmen fire on targets in Russia

The reports said one officer and a priest were killed when shots were fired at a synagogue and a church in Derbent, home to an ancient Jewish community in the South Caucasus and a UNESCO world heritage site.

"Unidentified people fired at a synagogue and a church with automatic weapons," the interior ministry said. "One police officer was killed and one injured."

The synagogue was on fire after the attack, Russian news agencies said.

The attackers then fled in a car.

Another police officer was killed in an exchange of shots at a police post in Makhachkala, about 125km to the north along the Caspian Sea coast and the main city in Dagestan, a mainly Muslim region in southern Russia.

Fighting was later reported in the streets of Makhachkala.