DOUBLE BOMBING AT NEWROZ CELEBRATIONS IN HASAKAH KILL 35

Hasakah, Syria, 2 Jumadil Akhir 1436/22 March 2015 (MINA) – A double bomb attack on Kurdish New Year celebrations in Hasakah in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) have left 35 dead and more than 150 wounded.

Rudaw correspondent in Hasakah, Ivan Hasib, said that the first explosion occurred at 6:00 pm local time in front of the office of the Kurdish Democratic group TEV-DEM, where hundreds of people had gathered to celebrate Newroz.

The second attack was a car bomb that targeted a crowd in front of the local office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria (PDKS), Rudaw Kurdish media network quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The dead and wounded have been taken to five different hospitals in the city, local officials said.

Newroz refers to the celebration of the traditional Iranian new year holiday of Newroz in Kurdish society. In Kurdish legend, the holiday celebrates the deliverance of the Kurds from a tyrant, and it is seen as another way of demonstrating support for the Kurdish cause.

The celebration coincides with the Northward equinox which falls mainly on 21 March and the festival is held usually between 18 and 24 March. The festival currently has an important place in the terms of Kurdish identity for the majority of Kurds, mostly in Turkey and Syria.

Though celebrations vary, people generally gather together to welcome the coming of spring; people wear coloured clothes and dance together. (T/P001/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)