Two People Have Been Killed In An Attack On A Sikh Temple In The Afghan Capital

KABUL, June 18 (Reuters) – At least two people were killed and seven injured in an attack on a Sikh temple in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Saturday, officials said, another deadly incident in a spate of violence against minorities and places of worship.

Gray smoke billowed over the area in images broadcast by domestic broadcaster Tolo. A Taliban interior spokesman said the attackers loaded a car with explosives but it detonated before it reached its destination.

“There were about 30 people in the temple,” said a temple official, Gornam Singh. “We don’t know how many of them are alive or how many are dead.”

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A spokesman for the Kabul commander said his troops had taken control of the area and cleared it of invaders. A Sikh worshiper was killed in the attack and a Taliban militant was killed during the evacuation, he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion.

Since taking power in August, the Taliban say they have tightened security in Afghanistan and rid the country of militant threats, although international officials and analysts say the risk of a resurgence in militancy remains.

A view shows smoke billowing from a building in Kabul, Afghanistan June 18, 2022 in this still image obtained by Reuters from a social media video via REUTERS

The militant group Islamic State has reported a number of attacks in recent months.

Saturday’s blast was widely condemned as one of several attacks on minorities, with neighboring Pakistan saying in a statement its government was “seriously concerned by the recent spate of terrorist attacks on places of worship in Afghanistan”.

The UN mission in Afghanistan said in a statement that minorities in the country needed protection, and India’s President Narendra Modi said on Twitter he was “shocked” by the attack.

Sikhs are a tiny religious minority in largely Muslim Afghanistan that numbered about 300 families before the country fell to the Taliban. But many have left afterward, say members of the community and media.

Like other religious minorities, Sikhs are a constant target of violence in Afghanistan. An attack on another temple in Kabul in 2020 that killed 25 people was claimed by Islamic State.

Saturday’s blast follows a blast at a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz the previous day, which authorities said killed one and injured two.

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Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; writing from Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by William Mallard, Clarence Fernandez and Clelia Oziel

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