Man with Axe Attacked Christians in Northern Iraq, Shouted ISIS Slogans
“The government must see the attack as a symptom of growing fundamentalism,” says Emanuel Youkhana.
Emanuel Youkhana demands action against fundamentalism. Here he photographed in front of a mosque in the city of Mosul located in Iraq, the city has been emptied of Cristians
Text by Johannes Morken
Three people were injured when a man armed with an axe attacked the annual parade of Assyrian Christians in the northern Iraqi city of Duhok.
“Every year on April 1, we hold this parade to mark the New Year. In 30 years, we have never experienced an attack like this—until now,” says Emanuel Youkhana, who lives and works in Duhok. He leads the church-based relief organization CAPNI, which is supported by the Stefanus Alliance.
The event gathered several thousand Assyrians from Iraq and the diaspora. They marched through Duhok in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, waving Assyrian flags and wearing colorful traditional clothing.
Witnesses said the attacker ran toward the crowd shouting Islamic slogans. He struck three people with the axe before being stopped by participants and security forces. Videos circulating online showed him lying on the ground shouting, “The Islamic State, the Islamic State remains.”
Head Injuries
A 17-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman sustained head injuries. A member of the local security forces, who was operating a surveillance drone, was also wounded. All three were taken to the hospital, according to local security officials speaking to the Associated Press.
Athraa Abdullah, the mother of the injured 17-year-old, said her son had arrived at the parade with friends by bus. He had sent her photos shortly before the attack.
She also shared that her family was displaced by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014. They fled to the Kurdish region that year.
She said, “We were attacked and displaced by ISIS, and today we faced a terrorist attack in a place we came to for refuge.”
Today, only a few hundred thousand Christians remain in Iraq. Many left during the civil war that followed the U.S. invasion in 2003. New waves fled after ISIS struck in 2014, seeking protection in the Kurdish region, where they had been safe from ISIS.
The majority of Christians who still live in Iraq are found either in the Kurdish region in the north—where this latest attack occurred—or in Nineveh Province, which borders the Kurdish region.
Calls for Action Against Hate Speech
Emanuel Youkhana told the Stefanus Alliance that the attack was carried out by a fanatic Muslim from Syria.
“This is not an isolated incident. It is the result of growing fanaticism—here in our country, in the region, and across the Middle East. That is why it must not be treated as a one-off, isolated case. It is not enough that the man has been arrested and will be prosecuted.
We hope the government will implement a program to address the rise of fundamentalism. We need a strategy to counter hate propaganda and to make religious diversity visible and accepted. People must become willing to accept those of different faiths,” says Youkhana.
CAPNI provides aid to Christians and others who survived ISIS and are trying to rebuild their lives in Iraq instead of leaving the country. Youkhana himself has declared he will remain in Iraq “until ISIS is gone.”