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KABUL, Afghanistan — Militants stormed a Sikh temple in Afghanistan’s capital on Saturday, leaving a number of individuals lifeless and others wounded, and stoking already heightened issues among the many nation’s non secular minorities about whether or not the brand new Taliban authorities will have the ability to shield them from rising violence by extremist teams.
The assault, which lasted over an hour, was the primary to focus on the nation’s Sikh group because the Taliban seized energy final summer time. It was the newest in a collection of bloody terrorist assaults that since April have killed over 100 individuals, predominantly civilians among the many nation’s Shiite and Sufi minorities.
Abdul Nafi Takor, an Inside Ministry spokesman, stated that one Taliban safety member concerned in stopping the assault and that one civilian had been killed; he additionally stated that seven different individuals had been injured. A physician from a close-by army hospital, who spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of he was not approved to talk to the information media, stated the hospital had obtained the our bodies of six worshipers killed on the temple.
The latest bloodshed has upended a relative calm that got here after the collapse of the Western-backed authorities in August, which ended 20 years of warfare, and has raised questions on whether or not the brand new Taliban authorities will have the ability to make good on its hallmark pledge of offering safety.
The assault on Saturday started about 6:30 a.m. when a bunch of armed males threw a grenade at a guard outdoors the temple within the Karte Parwan neighborhood of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, according to Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for the Kabul police. The lads then rushed inside, the place roughly 25 individuals had gathered to worship, Gurnam Singh, the president of the temple, stated in an interview.
Reporting From Afghanistan
“I used to be at house,” Mr. Singh stated, “and once I was about to go to the temple, I heard gunshots and explosions.”
A automotive bomb — the goal of which gave the impression to be the temple — was additionally detonated close by, in keeping with Taliban officers.
The Taliban authorities condemned the assault on Saturday and pledged to offer justice to the victims. The federal government “expresses its condolences to the households of the victims and assures that critical measures can be taken to establish and punish the perpetrators of this crime,” Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, wrote on Twitter.
No group has but claimed accountability for the assault on Saturday, nevertheless it follows a development of comparable assaults carried out in latest months by the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan.
The spate of assaults has challenged the Taliban’s claims that they’ve extinguished the risk from ISIS within the nation and bolstered issues a few resurgence of extremist teams in Afghanistan that would finally pose a world risk.
This 12 months, United Nations specialists warned that terrorist teams had been having fun with extra freedom in Afghanistan because the Taliban seized energy “than at any time in latest historical past.” One other latest report by a United Nations panel of specialists warned that Taliban officers had been sustaining shut ties with Al Qaeda.
The blast on Saturday rattled Afghanistan’s Hindu and Sikh communities, minorities which have been oppressed for many years and have been often attacked lately. As soon as numbering within the a whole lot of 1000’s, only some hundred Hindus and Sikhs stay within the nation right this moment, in keeping with group leaders.
Mr. Singh warned that the assault on Saturday might push the remaining few to depart the nation, too — basically extinguishing the group in Afghanistan.
“We’ve got been focused many occasions up to now, and we thought the scenario would change with the approaching of the Taliban, nevertheless it didn’t,” Mr. Singh stated. “We’re all despondent with what occurred, and possibly everybody will go away Afghanistan tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. What to do right here?”
Christina Goldbaum reported from Kabul, and Najim Rahim from Houston. Yaqoob Akbary contributed reporting from Kabul.
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