Gunmen and suicide bombers raided a Sikh religious complex in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Wednesday, killing 25 people before security forces killed all of the attackers, the government said.
The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement. Sikhs have been the target of attack by militants before in South Asia. Their community in Afghanistan numbers fewer than 300 families.
Several hours after the early morning attack was launched, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said an operation by the security forces was over and all of the attackers had been killed. He did not say how many. The ministry said 25 people who had been in the religious compound had been killed, eight wounded and 80 rescued.
Narender Singh Khalsa, a member of parliament who represents the tiny Sikh community, said he had had reports that up to 200 people had been trapped in the temple during the attack. “Three suicide bombers entered a dharamsala,” he said, referring to a sanctuary area in a temple compound. “The gunmen started their attack at a time when the dharamsala was full of worshippers.” Outside, families gathered and women cried as they waited to find out the fate of their relatives.
In the late 1980s, there were about 500,000 Sikhs scattered across Afghanistan, many from families that had been there for generations, but most fled after years of civil war and the rise of the Taliban. A Taliban spokesman, in a message on Twitter, denied responsibility for the attack.
Human rights activists and countries including the United States, India and Pakistan condemned the attack. “We are shocked and disheartened … the authorities have a responsibility to protect minorities and their places of worship in Afghanistan,” Amnesty International South Asia said on Twitter.
Pakistan also strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack on Gurdwara in Kabul. “Such despicable attacks have no political, religious or moral justification and must be rejected outright,” the Foreign Office said in a statement issued here. “Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. All places of worship are sacrosanct and their sanctity must be respected at all times,” it added.
“Our hearts go out to the families who have lost their loved ones in this inhuman act and we pray for the swiftest recovery of the injured. We also express our abiding solidarity with the fraternal people of Afghanistan,” the Foreign Office said.
