Gunmen killed two Armenian Catholic priests when they opened fire on a car near the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor on Monday, according to reports.
The so-called Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack which took place as the car was about to enter the city, having travelled from Qamishli. Two priests and a deacon were reportedly killed in the attack which came as three almost simultaneous car bombings occurred in Qamishli, one of them near a Chaldean church.
The Armenian church leaders had been travelling to Deir ez-Zor to inspect an an Armenian Catholic Church which had been damaged in the Syrian conflict. The car had reportedly been marked with a card identifying it with the Armenian Catholic Church.
Fr Hanna Bidu, also known as Fr Abrahim Petoyan, was killed instantly during the attack, according to reports, while his son, known as Fr Hovsep Petoyan, is believed to have died in hospital. A deacon, Fati Sano from the Armenian al-Hassakeh Church, was wounded.
US-based persecuted church support organisation International Christian Concern said the attack, which was reported by both the Assyrian Monitor for Human Rights and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, was the first in which IS has successfully targeted church leaders in the Levant since its military defeat in Syria in March.
Claire Evans, ICC’s regional manager for the Middle East, described the targeting of Armenian leadership as “a tragedy that deeply wounds the region’s entire Christian community”.
“Christians have long warned that ISIS [acronym for Islamic State] will seek every opportunity to continue its genocide against religious minorities,” she said. “Meanwhile, Turkey’s actions in the area have generated an environment of instability. Armenian Christians, whose ancestors were killed by Turkey’s genocide, find themselves caught between violent actors across all of Syria. We must keep the Christian community of Syria in our prayers, and urge for an end to this senseless conflict.”
