Hyderabad: Two persons including a Sikh man and a soldier were killed and at least seven others injured in a terrorist attack on Gurdwara Karta Parv in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday. The attackers, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor have also been killed and the gunfight is over. The Sikh man has been identified as Sawinder Singh, 60, son of late Kishan Singh, a native of Ghazni province.
Earlier in the day, terrorists of the ISIS Khurasan reportedly stormed the Gurudwara Karte Parwan in Kabul and fired at the worshipers. Several worshippers were trapped inside the Gurdwara and were rescued by the Afghan security forces. Multiple explosions were also heard during the attack. Soon gunbattle between the attackers and Taliban fighters ensued, said Abdul Nafi Takor, a Taliban-appointed spokesperson for the Interior Ministry.
He said a vehicle full of explosives was detonated outside of the temple but that resulted in no casualties. “First the gunmen threw a hand grenade which caused a fire near the gate,” he said. Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for the Kabul police chief, said the police operation ended after the last attacker was killed several hours later. He did not say how many attackers were involved.
Zadran said one Sikh was killed and seven others were wounded in the attack and a Taliban security force was also killed during the rescue operation. “The security forces were able to act quickly to control the attack and eliminate the attackers in a short period of time to prevent further casualties,” he said. Videos posted on social media show plumes of black smoke rising from the Gurdwara in Kabul’s Bagh-e Bala neighborhood and gunfire can be heard.
Also read: 'Deeply concerned': MEA reacts to attack on Kabul Gurudwara
A regional affiliate of the Islamic State group known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province has lately increased attacks on mosques and minorities across the country. The IS affiliate, which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2014, is seen as the greatest security challenge facing the country’s Taliban rulers. Since seizing power in Kabul and elsewhere in the country last August, the Taliban have launched a sweeping crackdown against the IS in eastern Afghanistan.
In March 2020, a lone Islamic State gunman rampaged through a Sikh temple in Kabul, killing 25 worshippers, including a child, and wounding eight others. As many as 80 worshippers were trapped inside the gurdwara as the gunman lobbed grenades and fired an automatic rifle into the crowd. 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.
External Affairs Ministry on Saturday said that it was “deeply concerned” over the terrorist attack on the Gurudwara in Afghanistan. In a statement issued this morning, the official spokesperson of the MEA Arindam Bagchi said, “We are deeply concerned at the reports emanating from Kabul about an attack on a sacred Gurudwara in that city.
"We are closely monitoring the situation and waiting for further details on the unfolding developments,” Bagchi said. "The cowardly attack on Gurdwara Karte Parwan should be condemned in the strongest terms by all. We have been closely monitoring developments since the news of the attack was received. Our first and foremost concern is for the welfare of the community," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted. (Agency inputs)
