Two dead in blasts at Kabul Gurdwara, IS links suspected; MEA monitoring situation

Two dead in blasts at Kabul Gurdwara, IS links suspected; MEA monitoring situation

Two dead in blasts at Kabul Gurdwara, IS links suspected; MEA monitoring situation

New Delhi : Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor on Saturday confirmed that attackers that stormed the Sikh gurdwara at Kart-e-Parwan area in Kabul have been killed.

He also confirmed the death of a Sikh man in the gurdwara and an IEA soldier in the crossfire, while seven others were reported injured. The gunfight between the terrorists and the Afghan army is over.

Assailants belonging to ISIS Khursan had attacked the gurdwara early Saturday morning. 

Earlier in the day, Afghanistan-origin Sikhs living in the national capital, said they received calls from Gurnam Singh, president, Gurdwara Karte Parwan, informing them about the attack.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa of the BJP said he has spoken to Gurnam Singh who informed him that the incident occurred at 6 am local time when a granthi was going inside the gurdawara for morning 'parkash' of the Guru Granth Sahib. 'Parkash' is the first prayer in any gurdwara.

The attack is suspected to have been carried out by from ISIS Khurasan. Taliban forces are gearing to take them on. Many have been killed, but numbers are not known as gurudwara is out of bounds for civilians, says eyewitness to attack.

Reports also said "hostages were on the second floor of the gurdwara".

Puneet Singh Chandhok, president, Indian World Forum, said Gurnam Singh had informed that the terrorists had launched a major attack. He called for immediate repatriation of minorities from Afghanistan.

There were less than 700 Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan at the time of the 2020 attack. Since then, dozens of families have left but many cannot financially afford to move and have remained in Afghanistan, mainly in Kabul, Jalalabad and Ghazni. Saturday's incident is the latest targeted attack on a place of worship of a minority community in Afghanistan.

In March 2020, at least 25 worshippers were killed and eight others injured when a heavily armed suicide bomber stormed a prominent gurdwara in the heart of Kabul, in one of the deadliest attacks on the minority Sikh community in the country.