ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a Sikh temple in Kabul which left two people killed and seven wounded following a blast in a car loaded with explosives.
The Foreign Office (FO) issued a statement today after the terrorist attack expressing its “serious concerned” at the recent spate of terrorist attacks on places of worship in Afghanistan terming them “utterly repugnant”.
The FO reiterated Pakistan’s condemnation of terrorism in all forms and manifestations.
“We express strong solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and support all efforts of the Afghan authorities in fighting the menace of terrorism and ensuring the protection of all their citizens,” it added.
According to a Taliban interior spokesman, attackers had laden a car with explosives but it had detonated before reaching its target.
Taliban authorities were securing the site, he added.
“There were around 30 people inside the temple,” said a temple official, Gornam Singh. “We don’t know how many of them are alive or how many dead.”
Temple authorities did not know what to do, as the Taliban were not allowing them inside, Singh told Reuters.
A spokesman for Kabul’s commander said his forces had taken control of the area and cleared it of attackers. One Sikh worshipper had been killed in the attack and one Taliban fighter killed during the clearing operation, he added.
Sikhs are a tiny religious minority in largely Muslim Afghanistan, comprising about 300 families before the country fell to the Taliban. But many left afterwards, say members of the community and media.
Like other religious minorities, Sikhs have been a continual target of violence in Afghanistan. An attack at another temple in Kabul in 2020 that killed 25 was claimed by Daesh.
