Security

'Diabolical' ISIS attack kills dozens at Sikh gurdwara in Kabul

AFP and Salaam Times

Afghan security personnel stand guard near the site of an attack on a Sikh gurdwara in Kabul on March 25. [STR/AFP]

Afghan security personnel stand guard near the site of an attack on a Sikh gurdwara in Kabul on March 25. [STR/AFP]

KABUL -- At least 25 people were killed Wednesday (March 25) in an attack on a Sikh gurdwara in Kabul where worshippers were offering morning prayers, the latest assault claimed by the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) group.

A man dressed in a police uniform burst into the temple in central Kabul, shot a guard and started attacking worshippers in the main hall, witness Raju Singh Sonny told AFP.

"Several other attackers also entered the building, and they were going from room to room shooting people," Sonny said.

The assault started at about 7.45am local time, said Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian. There were conflicting accounts about how many gunmen were involved, with security sources giving differing numbers between one and four.

At least one terrorist was subsequently killed by security forces in an hours-long clearing operation.

ISIS claimed responsibility, citing Hindu and Sikh violence in Kashmir and other parts of India as a justification for the massacre.

About 150 people had been inside the gurdwara, where several families live and where worshippers gather for morning prayers, Anarkali Kaur Honaryar, a Sikh member of the Afghan parliament, told AFP.

"Some people inside the temple are hiding, and their phones are off," Honaryar said during the massacre.

Twenty-five civilians were killed and eight others wounded, while 80 people were rescued from the gurdwara, said Arian. Graphic images posted online showed several bodies as well as terrified civilians who appeared to be Sikhs running from the scene.

'Diabolical'

Only a few thousand Sikhs and Hindus are estimated to reside in what is an overwhelmingly Muslim nation.

"Such cowardly attacks on the places of religious worship of the minority community, especially at this time of [the coronavirus] pandemic, is reflective of the diabolical mindset of the perpetrators and their backers," the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Pakistan similarly condemned the massacre, calling it an "inhumane act".

"Such despicable attacks have no political, religious or moral justification and must be rejected outright," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

ISIS has a history of targeting Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan, including a suicide bombing in Jalalabad in July 2018 that killed 19 people and wounded 21.

In recent months, the insurgent group has suffered mounting setbacks after being hunted by US and Afghan forces, but it still retains the ability to launch assaults on urban centres.

Earlier this month, the group gunned down 32 people and wounded dozens more at a commemoration ceremony in Kabul.

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داعشی وجود نداره این کار طالبان و گروه حقانی است که به دستور باداران پاکستانی شان انجام داده اند . گلبدین در ظاهر از مخالفت باطالبها گپ میزنه اما چون طالب و گلو هردو نوکر پاکستان اند در خفا هردو یکی هستند من یقین دارم که همه حملات درخانه گلو طراحی ‌وراه اندازی میشه.دلیلش هم واضح است از روزیکه گلو به کابل آمده حملات انتحاری مرگبار تر و دقیق تر و بیشتر شده

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This attack is a wild attack. May God destroy enemies of Afghans.

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Sikhs are among the most harmless ethnic minority groups in Afghanistan that fall victim to ISIS and Hinduism ideology. Today's killing of Sikhs is the retribution of Muslim blood that was shed by Hindus in India.

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Death to the bloodthirsty ISIS.

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I express my deep condolences to my Sikh compatriots and I share their grief. ISIS once again showed their violent and savage face to the people, as they are the enemies of humanity and they kill innocent people. Death to ISIS and its followers.

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Shame on the security and intelligence departments which could not defuse this attack beforehand. What kind of government is it? Once it says that the government defeated the ISIS all over Afghanistan, and then you see that the group carries out attack in the capital. Indeed, it is a matter of regret that ISIS killed the most harmless citizens of Afghanistan. Sikhs are Afghan nationals and they have been living in Afghanistan for hundreds of years. Attack on the Sikhs is in fact attack on humanity.

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Pakistan appointed its agents in the security agencies, but didn’t it appoint Haji Delawar, the spy of Pakistan as the advisor to the speaker of the senate. Read the report from the Hasht-e- Subh newspaper. Even the senate's speaker is also a spy of Pakistan.

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