Blast On Sikh Temple In Kabul Leaves Two Dead, Seven Others Injured

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Blast on Sikh temple in Kabul leaves two dead, seven others injured

The latest reports say the blast was carried out in a car loaded with explosives.

KABUL: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-June 18th, 2022) At least two people were killed and seven others injured in an attack on a Sikh temple in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Saturday.

The latest reports said that the blast was carried out in a car loaded with explosives.

However, nobody made immediate claim of responsibility.

There was grey smoke over the area following the blast that indicates that it was strong in nature.

A Taliban interior spokesman said attackers had laden a car with explosives but it had detonated before reaching its target. He said that the Taliban authorities were securing the site.

"Around 30 people were there inside the temple," said a temple official, Gornam Singh, adding that they did not know how many of them were alive or how many dead.

Singh said that Temple authorities did not know what to do, as the Taliban were not allowing them inside.

A spokesman for Kabul's commander said his forces had taken control of the area and cleared it of attackers. One Sikh worshipper had been killed in the attack and one Taliban fighter killed during the clearing operation, he added.

Since taking power in August, the Taliban say they have secured Afghanistan, although international officials and analysts say the risk of a resurgence in militancy remains.

Some attacks in recent months have been claimed by Daesh.

Sikhs are a tiny religious minority in largely Muslim Afghanistan, comprising about 300 families before the country fell to the Taliban. But many left afterwards, say members of the community and media.

Like other religious minorities, Sikhs have been a continual target of violence in Afghanistan. An attack at another temple in Kabul in 2020 that killed 25 was claimed by Daesh.

Saturday's explosion follows a blast at a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz the previous day that killed one person and injured two, according to authorities.

Abdullah Hussain

Abdullah Hussain is a staff member who writes on politics, human rights, social issues and climate change.