An attack claimed by using Islamic State on a gurdwara in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday killed at least two people and injured seven, officers said.
On an affiliated Telegram channel, the nearby department of Islamic State stated the attack used to be in response to insults levelled at the Prophet Mohammed, an obvious reference to remarks by an Indian government spokeswoman that have been condemned with the aid of many Muslim-majority countries.
Grey smoke billowed over the area in images aired with the aid of home broadcaster Tolo. A Taliban indoors spokesman said attackers had encumbered a vehicle with explosives however it had detonated before accomplishing its target.
A gurdwara official, Gornam Singh, stated there were around 30 human beings interior the constructing at the time.
A spokesman for Kabul’s commander said one Sikh worshipper had been killed in the attack and one Taliban fighter was once killed as his forces took manage of the area.
Since taking power in August, the Taliban say they have elevated security in Afghanistan and eliminated the country from militant threats, though international officials and analysts say the risk of a resurgence in militancy remains.
Islamic State has claimed some assaults in recent months.
The crew said a suicide attacker stormed the temple on Saturday morning armed with a computer gun and hand grenades after killing its guard.
Other militants fought for greater than three hours with Taliban opponents who tried to intervene to guard the temple, focused on them with 4 explosive units and a vehicle bomb, the militant group said.
The blast on Saturday used to be broadly condemned as one of a collection of assaults targeting minorities, with a declaration from neighbouring Pakistan pronouncing its government was “seriously worried at the recent spate of terrorist assaults on places of worship in Afghanistan.”
Sikhs are a tiny religious minority in generally Muslim Afghanistan, comprising about 300 families before the usa fell to the Taliban. Many have since left, according to members of the neighborhood and media.
Like other spiritual minorities, Sikhs have been a persistent goal of violence in Afghanistan. An assault at every other gurdwara in Kabul in 2020 that killed 25 used to be additionally claimed via Islamic State.
Saturday’s explosion accompanied a blast at a mosque in the northern metropolis of Kunduz the preceding day that killed one man or woman and injured two, according to authorities.
