Explosive detonates as Kabul Sikhs cremate their loved ones

By Asia Samachar Team | AFGHANISTAN |

ON Wednesday, a gunman who claims to be from the Islamic States launched a barbaric attack on a gurdwara in Kabul, killing 25 Sikhs, including a six year old child.

The lone gunman stormed Gurdwara Guru Har Rai in Shor Bazaar in central Kabul and held some 80 worshippers hostage for several hours and wounding eight people. He was killed by Afghan Special Forces aided by international troops.

The next day, (26 March), as the small Sikh community gathered to cremate their death, an explosive denoted near the crematorium.

The explosion went off Thursday near the gate of a crematorium in Kabul, as the frightened mourners struggled to continue with the funeral prayers and cremation, reports AP.

The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for the attack on the group’s Amaq media arm, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks militant postings and groups. The gunmen was identified as Indian national Abu Khalid al-Hindi, according to the report.

Maroon-colored cloth covered the many coffins surrounded by more than 100 family members who came to say their final farewell. The coffins were taken from their house of worship, known as a Gurdwara, to the crematorium for burial.

Dozens of wailing women remained behind in the Gurdwara as their loved ones were carried away.

Among the dead was Tian Singh, an Indian national, India’s External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

Sikhs, a small religious minority in Afghanistan which numbers fewer than 300 families, have been targeted by Islamist militants before.

A suicide bombing targeting the Sikh community and claimed by IS killed more than a dozen people in 2018 in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad.

RELATED STORY:

Gunmen, suicide bombers attack Sikh gurdwara in Kabul (Asia Samachar, 25 March 2020)

I feel sad and helpless for Sikhs still living in Afghanistan (Asia Samachar, 25 March 2020)