KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Two separate explosions rocked the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday, killing at least three people, including members of the Sikh minority community, and injuring four more, Afghan officials said.
The first blast affected a shop in the heart of the capital and caused the collapse and death of at least two Sikhs, according to two Afghan police officers. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to report to the media.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but the Islamic State group has targeted Sikhs and other minority communities in Afghanistan.. There is a nationwide rise in bombings, specific killings and violence on the battlefield as peace talks in Qatar between the Taliban and the Afghan government have stalled..
Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said six people were injured in the blast at the store and no one was killed. He said police were investigating what caused the blast. The discrepancy between the two numbers could not be explained immediately.
In Saturday’s second blast, Faramarz said a sticky bomb was connected to a police car and went out into northern Kabul and killed a police officer.
Tensions in Afghanistan are high in the midst of a series of targeted killings. Some are claimed by the local affiliate in the Islamic State, but many are not claimed, blamed by the Taliban government for denying responsibility for most attacks.
With the growing threats of ISIS, Afghanistan’s thriving Sikh and Hindu community has shrunk from up to 250,000 members to less than 700.
IS claimed responsibility for an attack last March in which a gunman stormed a Sikh house of worship in the heart of Kabul, killing 25 worshipers and wounding eight.
The IS claimed to have carried out 82 attacks in Afghanistan by 2020, killing or injuring 821 people, including 21 killed. Most of the victims of their attacks were security personnel or Shiite Muslims. However, the perpetrators of many specific killings are unknown.