Syria: Three killed in new attack on Christian area

Archbishop Hindo

Three Christians were killed and many more were injured in an attack on Saturday night in 'Miami Street' - in the center of Qamishli, Syria's second largest city in the northeastern province of Hassaké.

Abuna Hanna, from the Syriac Catholic Archdiocese of Hassaké-Nisibi said the victims were " three Syriac Christians: Abdulmehis Lahdo, Karam Sacid Samcun and Tuma Yusuf Eliyo."

Survivors report that at least three terrorists came into the street shooting and throwing grenades. There may have also been a suicide bomber.

The official media of the Syrian government attributed the attack to jihadist groups such as the Islamic State. But local independent sources point out that recently tensions in Qamishli area have led to armed clashes between government forces and Kurdish militias, which aim to control and assert its hegemony over the whole area.

In the same area of Qamishli, on 20 December, attacks against two restaurants belonging to Christian owners claimed the lives of 13 Christians and six Muslims. On 24 January, another attack in 'Miami Street' had caused three dead and 10 wounded.

"It is another of the disturbing factors of this war: there is terrorism, but sometimes we do not know who really terrifies us", Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo, head of the Syrian Catholic Archieparchy said.

Source: Fides