ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two Assyrian Christians were critically injured in an axe attack during celebrations of Akitu, the Assyrian-Babylonian New Year, in central Duhok, well-informed sources told Rudaw English, with the assailant shouting “Islamic State” while being tackled.
An axe attack shocked the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac Christian community during a mass gathering in Duhok city. They were celebrating Akitu, also known as Kha-b-Nisan, the world’s oldest holiday, by wearing traditional clothes and holding parties with food, music, and dance.
"As we were celebrating Kha-b-Nisan - Akitu - and as the Assyrian nation was entering 6775 years old in Nohadra (Duhok), a suspect regretfully attacked the celebrants with sharp tools,” Srud Maqdasy, an orthopedic surgeon and member of the Assyrian Democratic Movement’s (Zowaa) political bureau, told Rudaw English.
Maqdasy, who treated the victims in hospital, said that the attack injured a 20-year-old man from Qaraqosh (Bakhdida) in Nineveh province and an elderly 60-year-old woman from Ain Baqrah village near Alqosh – both of whom had come to Duhok to celebrate Akitu.
"This man had dangerous motives behind his attack. Eyewitnesses heard him shout religious phrases during his attack and it is clear that he is influenced by terrorist organizations,” said Maqdasy, who is also a former Kurdistan parliament lawmaker.
The Kurdistan Region Security Council on Tuesday night said that the attacker shared the Islamic State's (ISIS) ideology.
“A person with terrorist beliefs sharing the ISIS ideology attacked citizens with a sharp tool in the bazaar,” the council said in a statement, adding that the assailant is a Syrian national.
Videos verified by Rudaw English show the assailant shouting “Islamic State!” after being tackled and disarmed by Assyrian Christians in the celebration.
Both victims are in stable condition, but the elderly woman “has heavier injuries and a skull hemorrhage,” according to Maqdasy, who noted that a surgical procedure is not yet being considered.
The incident stirred outrage in social media, particularly among the marginalized Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac minority community in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. Such incidents also spark fear among members of the dwindling community, especially with the assailant chanting Islamist extremist slogans.
“Such a criminal incident is sensitive and influences public opinion,” Maqdasy stressed.
Duhok Governor Ali Tatar confirmed that the suspect was arrested by Kurdish security forces (Asayish) and an investigation into the attack is underway, believing that the incident will not harm coexistence in the Kurdistan Region.
“We strongly condemn the inhumane attack. The suspect will not impact the Kurdistan Region’s coexistence, and the historic coexistence will continue,” Tatar told reporters.
Deputy Governor Shamon Shlemoun, an Assyrian Christian, told Rudaw that the incident was a “terrorist attack.”
The identity of the assailant has yet to be confirmed, but several well-placed sources told Rudaw English that he is a Syrian living in the Domiz refugee camp in Duhok province.
Hundreds of Assyrians from abroad, namely the United States, Canada, and Australia, have come to the Kurdistan Region this year to take part in festivities.
Dilan Adamat, founder of The Return organization, which aims to support the diaspora Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac Christian community to return to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, lamented that the attack portrayed a negative picture to members of the diaspora in Duhok for Akitu, considering a return to their homeland.
“Although this is an isolated incident, it sends a terribly negative signal to our community, especially since hundreds of participants come from the diaspora specifically for this event,” Adamat told Rudaw English.
“Our people have the right to full security on their ancestral lands. Only in this way can we prevent emigration, bring back the diaspora, and maintain coexistence for all communities,” he stressed, with over a million Christians having left Iraq and the Kurdistan Region since the 2003 US invasion.
Akitu marks the revival of nature in spring and is dedicated to the rebirth of the god Marduk and his victory when he created the world out of chaos. Festivities are largely centered on the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac community’s ancestral homeland of the Nineveh Plains and Duhok.
Iraq’s Christian community has been devastated in the past two decades. Following the US-led invasion in 2003, sectarian warfare prompted followers of Iraq’s multiple Christian denominations to flee, and attacks by ISIS in 2014 hit minority communities especially hard.
The community’s existence in Iraq is on the brink, with fewer than 300,000 Christians remaining in the country today, a staggering fall from the nearly 1.5 million before 2003, according to data obtained by Rudaw English from Erbil’s Chaldean Archbishop Bashar Warda in February. However, the actual number is expected to be even lower.