Islamic State says attack on Kabul gurdwara was in support of Prophet Muhammad

The Islamic State-Khorasan Province claimed responsibility for an attack on a gurdwara in Kabul that killed an Afghan Sikh and a Taliban fighter, PTI reported on Sunday. The terror group said that they attacked the gurdwara in support of the Prophet Muhammad.

In a statement posted on its Amaq propaganda site, the terror outfit said the attack on Saturday targeted Hindus and Sikhs and the apostates who protected them.

Its fighters entered the temple for “Hindu and Sikh polytheists” in Kabul, killed the guard and opened fire on the worshippers with machine guns and hand grenades, the Islamic State-Khorasan Province said.

The three attackers were killed by the Taliban fighters.

The attack took place two days after the Islamic State-Khorasan Province in a video warned of an attack on Hindus in response to disparaging remarks about Prophet Muhammad by two Bharatiya Janata Party spokespersons, PTI reported.

BJP spokespersons’ remarks

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma made controversial remarks about the Prophet during a debate on the Times Now television channel on May 26. Naveen Jindal, who was the media head of the party’s Delhi unit, had posted a tweet on June 1 about the Prophet, which he later deleted.

On June 5, the BJP suspended Sharma and expelled Jindal after a diplomatic backlash from many Muslim-majority countries. On the same day, the Centre had said that the controversial comments had been made by “fringe elements” and they did not reflect the views of the Indian government.