Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani today visited the Gurudwara in Kart-e-Parwan area of Kabul to offer condolences to the Afghan Sikh community after last week’s attack which killed 20 people mostly Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan’s eastern city of Jalalabad.
Earlier, former president Hamid Karzai had also visited the Gurudwara. Afghan ambassador to India, Shahida Abdali had visited a Gurudwara in Delhi to offer condolences.
Police said they had been travelling in a vehicle on Sunday to meet President Ashraf Ghani, who was visiting Nangarhar province when the bomber struck. Among those killed was the only Sikh candidate who had planned to contest October’s parliamentary elections.
The bomber targeted the vehicle as it passed through Mukhaberat square in the city, governor’s spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said. The explosion badly damaged shops and buildings. Only a small community of Sikhs and Hindus live in Afghanistan which is otherwise an overwhelmingly Muslim nation. Correspondents say increasing numbers have moved to India due to persecution and repeated threats.
The Islamic State (IS) group said it carried out the attack.
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