Gunmen stormed a Sikh temple in the Afghan capital on Saturday, killing at least one member of the community and wounding seven more, the interior ministry said.
Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor said the attackers lobbed at least one grenade when they entered the temple, setting off a blaze in the complex. Minutes later, a car bomb was detonated in the area but caused no casualties, he added.
“One of our Sikh brothers has been killed and seven others (were) wounded in the attack,” Takor said in a statement. Two attackers were killed in an operation to secure the temple following the raid, he said, with one Taliban fighter also killed. While the number of bombings across Afghanistan has dropped since the Taliban seized power in August, several fatal attacks have hit the country in recent months. “I heard gunshots and blasts,” Gurnam Singh, a Sikh community leader, told AFP from close to the scene of Saturday’s attack soon after the raid began. “Generally at that time in the morning we have several Sikh devotees who come to offer prayers at the gurdwara (temple complex).” Footage posted on social media after the attack showed shattered pillars and walls in the temple’s main prayer hall, with debris scattered across the floor.
A section of a building near the temple also caught fire, an AFP correspondent reported from the area.
The windows of several residential buildings were broken from the impact of the car bomb. Nearby streets were littered with shattered glass. Taliban forces cordoned off the neighbourhood, preventing journalists from speaking with residents and witnesses.
A Taliban fighter deployed in the area told AFP that some Sikhs in the temple at the time of the attack managed to flee from a back door. Some of Kabul’s other Sikh temples were closed for security reasons as reports of the attack spread. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid. Meanwhile, Pakistan on Saturday strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Sikh temple in Kabul. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan is seriously concerned about the recent spate of terrorist attacks on places of worship in Afghanistan. The Foreign Office further noted that Pakistan reiterates its condemnation of terrorism in all forms and manifestations. “We express strong solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and support all efforts of the Afghan authorities in fighting the menace of terrorism and ensuring the protection of all their citizens,” it stated.
