Kabul: Deadly attack hits Sikh temple

Several blasts and gunfire hit a Sikh temple in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Saturday, a Taliban official and witnesses said.

 At least two people were killed and seven others injured after two gunmen assailed the temple in an hourslong attack, according to Abdul Nafi Takor, a Taliban-appointed spokesperson for the Interior Ministry. He said the assailants also died in fighting against Taliban security forces.

Those killed included a Sikh worshipper and a member of the security forces, he said.

A car bomb also detonated in the area but caused no casualties, Takor said earlier.

 Videos on social media showed black smoke emanating from the temple  in Kabul's Bagh-e Bala neighborhood. Gunfire can also be heard in the videos.

Who might be behind the attack?

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. However, a regional affiliate of the extremist "Islamic State" (IS) group known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province has lately increased attacks on mosques and minorities across the country.

An attack claimed by the IS at another Sikh temple in Kabul in 2020 killed 25.

The group is seen as the greatest security challenge facing the country's Taliban rulers, who have been clamping down on IS in eastern Afghanistan since seizing control of the country in August last year. Although IS is a Sunni Islamist group, like the Taliban, the two are bitter rivals.

There are around 200 Sikhs now living in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. This compares with the half a million adherents of the faith who lived in the country in the 1970s.

 

tj/aw (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)