The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for an attack on a Sikh temple in Afghanistan on Saturday, saying that a suicide bomber stormed the temple in the capital, Kabul.
In a statement posted on Telegram, the organization said that the attack targeted "Hindus, Sikhs and apostates", in response to the insults to the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace.
The organization explained that the attacker was carrying a machine gun and hand grenades, and that he killed the temple guard and then stormed the place.
ISIS stated that other fighters of its elements fought for more than 3 hours with fighters from the Taliban movement who tried to intervene to protect the temple.
He added that his fighters attacked the Taliban with four explosive devices and a car bomb.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Interior in the Taliban government announced the killing of a Sikh member and a Taliban fighter in the attack, noting that 7 other people were wounded.
The attack was widely condemned, with Pakistan issuing a statement saying its government was "deeply concerned about the recent wave of terrorist attacks on places of worship in Afghanistan".
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said in a statement that minorities in the country must be protected.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter that he was "shocked" by the attack.
This is the first time that a Sikh temple has been attacked in Afghanistan since the Taliban movement came to power in the summer of 2021, and before that, 25 were killed in an ISIS attack on a Sikh temple in 2020.
The Sikhs are a small religious minority in Afghanistan, and their number was about 300 families before the Taliban came to power and the withdrawal of US forces.
Saturday's explosion follows an explosion last Friday in a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz, which the authorities said killed one person and wounded two.