8 women among 25 killed in Kabul gurdwara attack

Twenty five devotees, including eight women, were killed and eight others injured in one of the deadliest attacks on the minority Sikh community in Afghanistan at

Gurdwara

Har Rai Sahib in capital

Kabul

on Wednesday morning. Agencies said a suicide bomber struck the gurdwara and the so-called Islamic State, which has targeted Sikhs earlier in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement.


However, the Sikh residents of Kabul, including one devotee who was in the gurdwara at the time of the attack, told TOI over the phone that multiple terrorists were seen at the time of the attack.

A Sikh resident, who did not wish to be named, said pilgrims had assembled at the gurdwara to pray for the well-being of humanity and the elimination of coronavirus when they were attacked. India reacted by saying that such "cowardly attacks" on places of religious worship of the minority community, especially at this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, reflected the "diabolical mindset" of the perpetrators and their backers. "I am saddened by the terror attack at the gurdwara in Kabul. I express my condolences to the families of all the deceased," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

The attack comes against the backdrop of the US-Taliban peace deal. The agreement doesn't cover IS operatives though. The Taliban issued a statement denying it had anything to do with the attack. Sikh pilgrims told TOI said the group of terrorists entered the gurdwara complex and started firing indiscriminately at the devotees.

The interior ministry of Afghanistan confirmed that 25 people were killed in the attack. It said about 80 people were rescued by Afghan special forces from the gurdwara. Another Sikh devotee, who resides in the gurdwara, sent a video to TOI which shows him and his family huddled in a corner of the house. The Sikh devotee, who is seen bareheaded in the video, said he along with his uncle had gone out of a room in the gurdwara around 8am when they spotted three bodies — of two Sikhs and one person in security uniform.

He then saw a terrorist whom he mistook to be a securityman in civvies. He said the terrorist fired at him and he barely escaped. The terrorist hurled a bomb in the gurdwara complex which didn’t go off. In another video uploaded on social media, Afghanistan’s Sikh MP

Narinder Singh

is heard saying that police were not letting him enter the gurdwara and he doesn’t know how many devotees had died in the attack. He told a news agency that “three suicide bombers entered” the shrine.

In a statement, the Indian foreign ministry said: “We convey our condolences to the immediate family members of the deceased and wish speedy recovery to the injured. India stands ready to extend all possible assistance to the affected families of the Hindu and Sikh communities of Afghanistan.”