IRAQ: Christian Assyrians injured in axe attack during the celebration of their New Year in Kurdistan
HRWF (07.04.2025) – On 1 April, two Assyrians and a policeman were injured in an attack on an Assyrian Christian celebration in Dohuk, in the northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.
The attack targeted the Akitu springtime celebrations observed by members of their community to mark the first day of their calendar year.
The parade drew thousands of Assyrians from Iraq and across the diaspora, who marched through Dohuk waving Assyrian flags and wearing colorful traditional clothes.
Witnesses said the attacker ran toward the crowd and struck three people with an axe before being stopped by participants and security forces. Videos circulating online showed him pinned to the ground, repeatedly shouting, “Islamic State, the Islamic State remains.”
A 17-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman suffered skull injury. Both had been displaced to the north of Iraq due to ISIS violence in their region. A member of the local security forces, who was operating a surveillance drone, was also wounded. All three were hospitalized, local security officials said. The woman suffered a haemorrhage that did not require surgery, Dohuk medical authorities said, adding that her condition was “stable”.
At one point, as the injured teenager was rushed to the hospital, some participants wrapped his head in an Assyrian flag, which was later lifted again in the parade — stained with blood but held high as a symbol of resilience.
Despite the attack, Assyrians continued the celebrations of the holiday, which symbolizes renewal and rebirth in Assyrian culture.
The assailant behind the attack was identified as a Syrian national adhering to ISIS.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) strongly condemned the attack.
Dr. Mohamed Al-Hassan, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq and Head of UNAMI, praised the swift and effective response by Iraqi authorities, which led to the immediate arrest of the perpetrator.
Ninab Yousif Toma, a political bureau member of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM), said that the Assyrian community had celebrated their new year, known as Akitu, in Duhok since the 1990s without incidents of violence.
He said that the community was waiting for the results of the official investigation and planned to file an official lawsuit.
Iraq’s Christian population plunged from some 1.5 million before the fall of Saddam Hussein in the early 2000s to about 400,000, the majority having fled successive bouts of violence in the country.
Photo: Assyrian flag (Credit: Nail Beth Kinne/ HRWF)