Islamic State claims attack on Sikhs, Hindus in Afghanistan

Kabul: The Islamic State group today claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in eastern Afghanistan that killed at least 19 people, mostly Sikhs and Hindus. 

The bomber targeted a delegation from the minority communities as it was travelling to the governor’s residence in the eastern city of Jalalabad yesterday for a meeting with President Ashraf Ghani.  Avtar Singh Khalsa, a longtime leader of the Sikh community, was among those killed. Another 20 people were wounded. 

In a statement released today, the IS said it had targeted a group of “polytheists”. Sikhs and Hindus face discrimination in the conservative Muslim country and have been targeted by Islamic extremists in the past, leading many to emigrate. 

The community numbered more than 80,000 in the 1970s, but today only around 1,000 remain. The UN mission to Afghanistan condemned the attack in a statement, saying, “the architects of this appalling crime must be brought to justice.” 

The UN also condemned an attack late Saturday in which militants killed three night watchmen outside a school and beheaded two of them before torching the building. That attack was also claimed by the Islamic State group.