ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region Presidency said on Wednesday that it strongly condemns the axe attack on Assyrian Christians celebrating Akitu - the Assyrian-Babylonian New Year - in Duhok province that injured two the day prior.
An axe attack targeted Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac Christian celebrants gathered in Duhok city on Tuesday to celebrate Akitu. The assailant, reportedly a Syrian national, injured a young man and an elderly woman from Nineveh province who had come to Duhok to partake in the festivities.
“While strongly condemning this crime, we assure all Kurdistanis that the Kurdistan Region, as always, will remain a homeland of coexistence, peace, and stability for all its components, and in no way will it allow the disruption of the culture of coexistence, mutual acceptance, and tolerance. The criminal will face legal punishment,” the Kurdistan Region Presidency said in a statement.
The presidency noted that it remains in contact with relevant authorities to uncover the circumstances behind the “criminal attack.”
On Tuesday night, the Kurdistan Region Security Council said 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,” it 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.
He was then arrested by Kurdish security forces (Asayish) and the victims were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Celebrations of Akitu - which take place on April 1 - are largely centered on the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac community’s ancestral homeland of the Nineveh Plains and Duhok.
