Islamic State claims responsibility of Sikh temple attack in Kabul that killed 11
The global terrorist organization Islamic State on Wednesday claimed responsibility of the Sikh temple attack in Kabul that killed 11 people and several injured. A gunman stormed a religious gathering of Afghanistan’s minority Sikhs in their place of worship, Gurudwara, in the heart of Kabul’s old city on Wednesday.
Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry said police responded promptly to the attack.
Earlier this month, Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate struck a gathering of minority Shiite Muslims in Kabul, killing 32 people.
Sikhs have suffered widespread discrimination in the conservative Muslim country and have also been targeted by Islamic extremists. Under Taliban rule in the late 1990s, they were asked to identify themselves by wearing yellow armbands, but the rule was not enforced. In recent years, large numbers of Sikhs and Hindus have sought asylum in India, which has a Hindu majority and a large Sikh population.
In July 2018, a convoy of Sikhs and Hindus was attacked by an Islamic State suicide bomber as they were on their way to meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in the eastern city of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. Nineteen people were killed in that attack.
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