Kabul gurdwara attack | |
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Part of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) | |
Location | Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib, Shor Bazaar, Kabul, Afghanistan |
Coordinates | 34°30′43″N69°11′13″E / 34.512°N 69.187°E |
Date | March 25, 2020 07:45 – 14:00 (AFT (UTC+04:30)) |
Target | Sikhs |
Attack type | Shooting, suicide bombings |
Deaths | 25 |
Injured | 8+ |
Perpetrators | Joint cell of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province and Haqqani network members |
Assailants | Abu Khalid al-Hindi |
On 25 March 2020, ISIS gunmen and suicide bombers attacked the Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib (a Sikh shrine) in Kabul, Afghanistan. [1] [2]
About 200 worshipers were reported to have been in the building, in which 25 Sikh worshippers were killed and leaving at least 8 wounded after an hour-long siege which ended in all assailants being killed by responding security forces. [3] [4] [5] At least one child was said to have been among people who were killed, according to the ministry of interior's statement. [6]
The Islamic extremist and militant organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has claimed responsibility. [7] The gunmen were identified as Abu Khalid al-Hind and Murshid Mohammed T.K.J both Indian citizens from the state of Kerala. [8] Abu Khalid al-Hindi whose real name is Mohammed Sajid Kuthirummal and Murshid Mohammed T.K.J hail from Kasargod in Kerala, India and had joined ISIS like many others from his state. Owing to the large number of youth joining ISIS from Kerala, ISIS reportedly opened a Hind division to accumulate the Malayalam speaking fighters who had difficulty in communicating with other fighters.[ citation needed ]
The attacks started in the gurdwara's sanctuary area where 200 worshipers were praying at about 7:45 am interrupting worship that started an hour earlier. The attackers threw grenades and broke into the shrine then started opening fire on people. [9] Afterwards, the attackers took hostages inside of the building, exchanging fire with security forces till all three attackers were killed and at least 80 hostages freed after a shootout that lasted for 6 hours. [4] [10] [11] After the attack, Afghan and NATO soldiers helped with the clearance operation.
On Thursday, as families of the deceased and members of the community were conveying the bodies to the burial grounds in the Qalacha area in the afternoon, another blast was reported to have gone off remotely, near the crowd. [12] There were no casualties from the blast. [13]
This was not the first such attack on Sikhs; a similar Islamic State attack on Sikhs killed many in Jalalabad in 2018. Gurdwaras have also been damaged previously, such as during the Battle of Jalalabad (1989) and the Afghan Civil War of the 1990s.
Initial government reports suggested that Ashraf Ghani's government blamed Haqqani network for the attack, but Taliban denied its role. [14] Shortly after, the SITE Intelligence Group announced that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province claimed responsibility right after the attack through various social media accounts. [15] [16] The gunman was identified as Abu Khalid al-Hindi, an Indian citizen from Padne in the Kasargod district of Kerala state. [8] [17] An Indian source revealed al-Hindi was wanted in a 2016 NIA case, and had previously worked as a shopkeeper in his native town. [17] The Afghan NDS said the perpetrator left India in 2018 to join ISIS Khorasan in Afghanistan. [18] Indian intelligence agencies identified him as Mohammed Sajid Kuthirummal. [19]
In a communique, the ISIS said the attack was carried out in response to the "Indian government's actions in Jammu and Kashmir". [20] The attack mastermind and ISIS-K emir Abdullah Orakzai, alias Aslam Farooqi, was captured by the National Directorate of Security on 4 April along with 19 others. [21]
The Afghan National Directorate of Security in April arrested a group of eight that included operatives from both ISIS-K and Haqqani network. Another five members were killed in the raid which happened in Kabul. The group was involved in many attacks including on the gurdwara, the rocket attack on a ceremony during which Ashraf Ghani was sworn in as the President in March 2020 and a rocket attack on Bagram Airfield in April. [22] It was reported that one of the arrested ISIS militants was linked to Pakistan's ISI. [23] [24]
This assault resulted in the death of 25 civilians including one child, while another eight were wounded according to the ministry of interior's statement. [25]
One of those who died in the attack is Tian Singh, a 71-year old Indian citizen from Delhi whose family members demanded that his remains should be brought to India. [26] [27]
The attack was condemned by multiple people worldwide including;
Karte Parwan Gurdwara in the Karte Parwan section of Kabul, Afghanistan, is one of the main Gurdwaras in the region. Gurdawara means the Gateway to the Guru, and is a place of worship for Sikhs.
Sikhism inAfghanistan in the contemporary era is limited to small populations, primarily in major cities, with the largest numbers of Afghan Sikhs living in Jalalabad, Ghazni, Kabul, and to a lesser extent in Kandahar and Khost. Sikhs have been the most prevalent non-Muslim minority in Afghanistan, and despite the many political changes in recent Afghan history, governments and political groups have generally not indulged in openly discriminating against the Sikh minority; however, their status have been severely impacted amid the country's conflict since 1978.
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The Islamic State – Khorasan Province is a regional branch of the Salafi jihadist group Islamic State (IS) active in South-Central Asia, primarily Afghanistan and Pakistan. ISIS–K seeks to destabilize and replace current governments within the historic Khorasan region with the goal of establishing a caliphate across South and Central Asia, governed under a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law, which they plan to expand beyond the region.
Shia Muslims have been persecuted by the Islamic State (IS), an Islamic extremist group, since 2014. Persecutions have taken place in Iraq, Syria, and other parts of the world.
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A suicide bombing occurred on 21 March 2018 around 12:00 PM in Kabul near Kart-e Sakhi, a Shia shrine. At least 33 people were killed with more than 65 wounded in the bombing. The militant group ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack.
On 1 July 2018, a suicide bomber detonated in the center of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, killing 20 people, mainly Sikhs and Hindus, and injuring 20 others.
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On 6 March 2020, a mass shooting occurred in Kabul, Afghanistan. Two gunmen fired from a building that was under construction, killing 32 people and injuring another 81. It happened during a ceremony to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the murder by the Taliban of Afghan Shia leader Abdul Ali Mazari. The ceremony was attended by Afghan politician Abdullah Abdullah, who escaped unharmed. The two gunmen were killed later the same day. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the attack.
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On 2 November 2020, three gunmen stormed the campus of Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing 32 people and wounding 50 others. The attack began around the time that government officials were expected to arrive at the campus for the opening of an Iranian book fair. The three gunmen were later killed during a fight with security forces. The attack occurred at around 11:00 A.M. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province (ISIL-KP) claimed responsibility for the attack.
A suicide bombing took place at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on 26 August 2021, at 17:50 local time, during the evacuation from Afghanistan. At least 182 people were killed, including 169 Afghan civilians and 13 members of the United States military, the first American military casualties in the War in Afghanistan since February 2020. The Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIS–K) claimed responsibility for the attack.
This is a timeline of ISIL-related events that occurred in the year 2020.
On 21 March 2024, ISIS–K carried out a suicide bombing on a New Kabul Bank branch in Kandahar, Afghanistan around 8:00 AFT killing at least 21 and injuring at least 51, targeting Taliban workers who were collecting their wages.
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