Kabul: The Islamic State group has 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 traveling to the governor’s residence in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday 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 Monday, 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.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani Monday mourned the deaths in the eastern city of Jalalabad that also killed the only candidate of the Afghan parliament election from the minority community.
“We mourn their deaths as a nation and remind their loved ones that we are there for them. I offer our heartfelt condolences to their families and friends as we grieve together,” President Ghani tweeted. The victims were on their way to meet the President when a suicide bomber targeted their convoy Sunday, killing 19 people, including 17 Sikhs.
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