ISIS axe rampage at Christian competition parade leaves three injured earlier than attacker is overpowered

Three people have been injured in Iraq after a man armed with an axe attacked a parade hosted by Assyrian Christians as they marked their new year, officials said.

The event in, held every year on April 1, drew thousands of Assyrians who marched through Dohuk in northern Iraq waving flags and wearing colourful traditional clothes.

But witnesses of Wednesday’s horror said an attacker, who has not been officially identified, ran towards the crowd chanting Islamic slogans before carrying out his stabbing spree.

He brutally struck three people with the axe before being overpowered by participants and security forces. 

Videos circulating online show him pinned to the ground by a brave member of public, as he repeatedly shouted: ‘Islamic State, the Islamic State remains.’

A 17-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman suffered skull fractures following the viscous attack at the annual parade. 

A member of the local security forces, who was operating a surveillance drone, was also wounded. All three were taken to hospital, local security officials said.

At the hospital where her 17-year-old son Fardi was being treated after suffering a skull injury, Athraa Abdullah told The Associated Press that the teenager had gone to the parade with his friends.

An unnamed attacker brutally struck three people with an axe before being overpowered by participants and security forces

The man had been chanting Islamic slogans while carrying out his stabbing spree in Iraq

Revellers were seen fleeing the scene as the attacker made his way through the crowds with an axe. Three people were left inured 

He was sending photos from the celebrations shortly before his friends called to say he had been attacked, she said.

Ms Abdullah, whose family was displaced when so-called Islamic State (IS) militants swept into their area in 2014, said: ‘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 75-year-old mother Yoniyah Khoshaba was injured, said they had been shopping near the parade when the attack happened.

‘He was running at us with an axe,’ she said. ‘All I remember is that 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.’

Her family, originally from Baghdad, was also displaced by past violence and now lives in Ain Baqre village near the town of Alqosh.

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 and asked Iraqi federal authorities to address extremist indoctrination.

‘We request both governments to review the religious and education curriculums that plant hate in people’s heads and encourage ethnic and religious extremism,’ he said.

Assyrian revellers dressed in traditional clothing attend ‘Akitu,’ the Assyrian New Year celebrations, in Dohuk, Iraq, Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Three people were stabbed during the parade on Wednesday. Pictured: A scouts marching band performs during ‘Akitu,’ the Assyrian New Year celebrations, in Dohuk

‘This was obviously an inhumane terrorist attack.’

However, he said that the Assyrian community had celebrated their new year, known as Akitu, in Duhok since the 1990s without incidents of violence and acknowledged the support of local Kurdish Muslim residents.

‘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,’ he said, adding that the community was waiting for the results of the official investigation and planned to file an official lawsuit.

‘The Middle East is governed by religion, and as minorities, we suffer double because we are both ethnically and religiously different from the majority,’ he said.

‘But 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.

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.