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The annual march by Assyrian Christians in the Iraqi city of Dohuk to celebrate their new year was violated on Tuesday when a man who was the ax was attacking the march and wounding three people said witnesses and local officials.
The march, held each year on April 1, drew thousands of Assyrians from Iraq and across the diaspora, who marched through Dohuk in northern Iraq and waved Assyrian flags and wore colorful traditional clothing.
Witnesses said the attacker, who was not officially identified, ran to the crowd shouting Islamic slogans.
He hit three people with the ax before being stopped by participants and security forces. Videos circulated online showed that he was pinned to the ground and repeatedly shouted: “Islamic State, the Islamic State remains.”
A 17-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman sustained skull fractures. A member of the local security forces, which runs a supervisory drone, was also wounded. All three were hospitalized, local security officials said.
In the hospital where her 17-year-old son Fardi was treated after sustaining a skull injury, Athraa Abdullah told The Associated Press that her son had come to buses with his friends. He sent pictures of the celebrations shortly before his friends called to say he was attacked, she said.
Abdullah, whose family was displaced when militants from the Islamic State swept in their area in 2014, said: “We have already been attacked and displaced by Isis, and today we faced a terror attack at a place where we came for shelter.”
Janet Aprem Odisho, whose 75-year-old mother Yoniyah Khoshaba was wounded, said she and her mother were shopping near the parade when the attack took place.
“He ran to us with an ax,” she said. “All I remember is that he beat my mother, and I ran away when she fell. He had already attacked a young man bleeding in the street, and then tried to attack more people. ‘
Her family, originally from Baghdad, was also displaced by violence from the past and now lives in the Ain Baqre village near the city of Alqosh.
Assyrians faced a wave of hate speech and offensive remarks on social media after the attack.
Ninab Yousif Toma, a political bureau member of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM), condemned the regional government in the Semi-Autonomous Kurdish region in Northern Irak and the Iraqi federal authorities to address the extremist indoctrination.
“We are both calling for governments to encourage the curricula for religious and education that encourage hatred in people’s heads and ethnic and religious extremism,” he said. “Of course, it was an inhuman terror attack.”
However, he said that since the 1990s, the Assyrian community celebrated their new year, known as Akitu, in Duhok without incidents of violence and the support of the local Kurdish Muslim residents.
“The Kurds in Duhok serve American water and candy, even if they are stuck with Ramadan. It was probably an individual, unplanned attack, and it will not scare our people,” he said, adding that the community is waiting for the results of the official investigation and plans to submit an official lawsuit.
“The Middle East is controlled by religion, and as minorities we suffer double because we differ ethnically and religiously from the majority,” he said. “But we have a cause, and we have acted today to show that we have existed here for thousands of years. This attack will not stop our people. ‘
Despite the attack, Assyrians continued the celebrations of the holiday, symbolizing the renewal and rebirth in Assyrian culture, as well as resilience and continuous existence as an indigenous group.
At one point, while the injured teenager was rushed to the hospital, some participants wrapped his head in an Assyrian flag, which was later lifted back into the parade – stained with blood, but held high as a symbol of resilience.
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