“Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem II, the supreme leader of the Syriac Orthodox Church, has been missing after a terrorism attack in North-Eastern Syria on Sunday,” Greek media report descriging the case as a “thriller”. At least three people were killed and several injured in Qamishli in northeast Syria when a suicide bomber attacked an event commemorating the massacre of Armenian Christians more than a century ago by the Ottoman Army.
According to Athens News Agency, the Syrian Human Rights Watch reported that a suicide bomber blew himself just shortly after the Patriarch had inaugurated the monument for the Armenian genocide in Al-Ustani neighborhood of Qamishli.
“Twenty four hours after the attack, there is no information about the whereabouts of the Patriarch, whether he has been injured or not,”ANA notes.
According to other local sources like the Kerala-based Jacobite Syrian Christian Church “Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, who was leading the commemoration, escaped the attack without any injuries.” However, the leader of the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church added that the only information they had was via e-mail.
“We still have not come to terms with the news and the only means of communication is through email as all other forms of communications are cut,” leader Mar Baselios Thomas I, told reporters.
