KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Two separate explosions on Saturday shook Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, killing at least three people, including members of the Sikh minority community, and injuring four others, Afghan officials said.
The first explosion hit a store in the heart of the capital, causing it to collapse and kill at least two Sikhs, according to two Afghan police officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, but the Islamic State group has targeted Sikhs and other minority communities in Afghanistan. A nationwide spike in bombing raids, targeted killings and battlefield violence comes as peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government stall in Qatar.
Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said six people were injured in the explosion at the store and no one died. He said police were investigating the cause of the explosion. The discrepancy between the two numbers could not be immediately explained.
In Saturday’s second explosion, Faramarz said a sticky bomb attached to a police car and detonated in northern Kabul, killing a police officer.
Tensions in Afghanistan are high amidst a series of targeted murders. Some are claimed by the local branch of Islamic State, but many are not claimed, as they are blamed by the government on the Taliban who have denied responsibility for most of the attacks.
With increasing threats from ISIS, the once thriving community of Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan has declined from a whopping 250,000 members to fewer than 700.
ISIS claimed responsibility in March for an attack in which a gunman raged through a Sikh house of worship in the heart of Kabul, killing 25 believers and injuring eight.
IS claimed it committed 82 attacks in Afghanistan in 2020, killing or injuring 821 people, including 21 murders. Most of the victims of the attacks were security personnel or Shia Muslims. However, the perpetrators of many targeted murders are unknown.