Nupur Sharma, a spokeswoman for the party, had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad during a discussion on a news channel, and her comments were reportedly followed by anti-Islamic comments by another party leader on Twitter. Seven gunmen tried to storm the temple in the early hours of Saturday morning and all were killed in a clash that lasted several hours, according to Kabul police. ISIS-K reported in its Telegram post that Abu Muhammad al-Tajik’s suicide bomber entered the temple throwing a grenade at the security guard at the entrance, killing him. “Armed with a rifle, pistol and grenades, he proceeded to shoot,” ISIS-K said worshipers inside the temple. A temple official said 30 people were inside the temple at the time. ISIS-K also claimed that its members clashed with Taliban government fighters trying to reach the temple, targeting them with a trapped car and four other explosive devices. He said clashes between ISIS-K and Taliban fighters lasted three hours and that the al-Tajik suicide bomber was killed in the exchanges. “The ILO [Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan] Strongly condemns the targeting of the Hindu shrine in Kabul by the enemies of the Afghan people. “The IEA expresses its condolences to the families of the victims and assures that serious measures will be taken to identify and punish the perpetrators of this crime,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on Twitter, referring to the Sikh shrine.
The anger grows
Afghanistan, once home to tens of thousands of Sikhs and Hindus, has seen numerous attacks on religious minority groups since the Taliban took control of the country in 2021, following the withdrawal of US forces. Last year, ISIS launched another offensive against the Sikh community that killed more than a dozen people at another temple in Kabul. Saturday’s attack comes amid growing anger in the Muslim world over India over BJP members’ comments, and New Delhi is struggling to contain diplomatic pressure from Muslim-majority countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Oman and Iraq. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned the latest attack, calling on Twitter to “protect all minorities in Afghanistan, including Sikhs, Khazars and Sufis.” The European Union’s ambassador to Afghanistan also condemned the attack, saying “religious (and national) pluralism must be fully protected.” The Indian Foreign Ministry said it was “deeply concerned” by reports from Kabul about an attack on a sacred Gurdwara in the city.
