Man with axe screams ISIS slogans as he attacks Christians attending festival parade

A man armed with an axe left three Christians injured while shouting ISIS slogans in a parade attended by thousands of people.

Assyrians had gathered in the city of Dohuk in Iraq to mark the new year on April 1, with many wearing colourful traditional clothes and waving flags. The fun was interrupted however when an attacker ran towards the crowd shouting Islamic slogans and wielding an axe. His vicious weapon hit at least three people in the crowd before he was overwhelmed by other participants and security forces. Videos circulated online showed him pinned to the ground, as he shouted: “Islamic State, the Islamic State remains.”

The injured included 17-year-old Fardi Abdullah and Yoniyah Khoshaba, 75, who both suffered skull fractures in the melee. A member of the local security forces, who was operating a surveillance drone, was also wounded and all three were taken to hospital.

Athraa Abdullah, whose family was displaced when so-called Islamic State (IS) militants swept into their area in 2014, said her son had gone to the parade with his friends. She added: “We were already attacked and displaced by IS, and today we faced a terrorist attack at a place we came to for shelter.”

Janet Aprem Odisho, whose mother Yoniyah was injured, said they had been shopping near the parade when the attack happened. She added: “He was running at us with an axe.

“All I remember is he hit my mother, and I ran away when she fell. He had already attacked a young man who was bleeding in the street, then he tried to attack more people.”

Assyrians faced a wave of hate speech and offensive comments on social media following the attack. Ninab Yousif Toma, a political bureau member of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM), condemned the regional government in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

He added: “This was obviously an inhumane terrorist attack. We request both governments to review the religious and education curriculums that plant hate in people’s heads and encourage ethnic and religious extremism.”

“The Kurds in Duhok serve us water and candy even when they are fasting for Ramadan. This was likely an individual, unplanned attack, and it will not scare our people.

“The Middle East is governed by religion, and as minorities, we suffer double because we are both ethnically and religiously different from the majority. We have a cause, and we marched 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, which symbolises renewal and rebirth in Assyrian culture as well as resilience and continuous existence as an indigenous group.