Seven attackers attempted to storm the temple in the early hours of Saturday and threw grenades at security guards standing at the entrance. The attackers also detonated a car bomb in the area, but no casualties from the blast were reported.
All seven gunmen were killed after an argument lasting several hours on the temple grounds, Zadran said. There was no direct assumption of responsibility.
The attack killed a member of the security forces and a Sikh supporter, according to state-run Bakhtar news agency.
Temple official Gornam Singh told Reuters that 30 people were inside the temple at the time of the attack. “We don’t know how many of them are alive or how many are dead,” he said, adding that the temple authorities didn’t know what to do as the Taliban wouldn’t let them in.
Sikhs are a tiny religious minority in Afghanistan, few remaining since the Taliban takeover last year.
Religious minorities such as the Sikhs have been the target of violence in the country. In 2020, 25 people were killed in an attack on another Sikh temple in Kabul for which ISIS claimed responsibility.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned the attack, writing in a tweet that “attacks on civilians must stop immediately.” UNAMA calls for the protection of all minorities in Afghanistan, including Sikhs, Hazaras and Sufis.”
The European Union ambassador to Afghanistan said the attack was horrific and “religious (and ethnic) pluralism must be protected with all our might”.
India’s Foreign Ministry said it was “deeply concerned by the reports from Kabul of an attack on a holy Gurudwara in that city”.