ASIA/SYRIA - Attack in the Christian area in Qamishli: 3 dead and 10 wounded

Monday, 25 January 2016 terrorism  

Qamishli (Agenzia Fides) - At least three people were killed and 10 others wounded in a bomb attack in Syria’s northeastern Kurdish city of Qamishli, on on the evening of Sunday, January 24. The attack took place in the mostly Christian neighborhood and was carried out with a motorcycle bomb. The blast hit the restaurant in "Miami Street".
"All three of the victims are Christians: a Chaldean and two Syrian Orthodox" refers to Agenzia Fides Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo, head of the Syrian Catholic archdiocese in Hassakè-Nisibis. "At the moment" continues Archbishop Hindo "there are rumors that say ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. But there are those who link the attacks to the recent clashes between Kurdish militias, who aim to control the neighborhood, and the self-defense groups "Sootoro" who are active, and are composed of young Christians, Syrians and Assyrians, who are active in that neighborhood. So many people think that behind the bombing there could also be Kurdish masterminds and executors. It is another disturbing factor of this war: there is terrorism, but sometimes we do not know who really terrifies us". The funeral of the three victims will be held this afternoon.
Already last December 20 attacks against two restaurants in Qamishli belonging to Christian, had claimed the lives of 13 Christians and six Muslims. Recently (see Fides 20/01/2016), Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Mar Ignatius Aphrem II went to Qamishli, in the northeastern Syrian governorate of Hassakè, for a reconciliatory mediation between the Kurdish militias and the self-defense groups Sootoro. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 25/01/2016)


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