ODINTSOVO /Moscow Region/, February 20. /TASS/. Terrorist groups are diligently encouraging ‘lone wolf’ attacks similar to the one that occurred in the Dagestani regional town of Kizlyar last weekend from Afghanistan’s territory, Head of the CIS Anti-Terrorism Center (ATC) Andrey Novikov said at a meeting of the heads of CIS member-countries’ national anti-terrorist centers.

"These so-called ‘inspired attacks’ carried out by international terrorist organizations from Afghan territory in other countries, that is, the promotion of ‘lone wolf’ tactics pose a serious threat to CIS states. Calls for [such attacks] have already been disseminated in the media space of the Islamic State (IS) international terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia), broadcasted in the languages of CIS nationalities," he elaborated.

According to Novikov, a new IS deployment base in Pakistan and Afghanistan is being formed in place of the positions lost by terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

On Sunday, an armed man opened fire at people leaving an Orthodox church in the city of Kizlyar killing four and wounding four others, including police and National Guard officers. One of those wounded later died in a local hospital. All the victims had gunshot wounds. The gunman was later shot dead by the police while trying to flee the scene.

Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Sections 105 (murder with aggravating factors) and 317 (attempt on the life of a law enforcer) of the Russian Criminal Code. According to the committee’s spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko, investigators are not ruling out the premise that the Kizlyar shooting could have been a terror attack.