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JALALABAD, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber on Sunday struck a crowd of Sikhs and Hindu Afghans to meet with President Ashraf Ghani while he was visiting the eastern city of Jalalabad, an attack that killed at least 19 people and injured 10 others.
The explosion occurred well outside the compound where Mr. Ghani was holding meetings. He was not injured and continued as usual with his schedule, according to the authorities.
The attack claimed the only candidate Sikh candidate for this year's elections, an additional blow to the once-famous diversity of Afghanistan. The suicide bombing was the second deadly attack in 24 hours in Jalalabad province, known as Nangarhar, where the Islamic State took hold and repeatedly claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings in urban areas. Late Saturday, activists targeted a boys' school in Khogyani district, decapitating three workers and setting fire to the school building.
Although no group claimed responsibility for one or the other attack on Sunday night, the beheadings bore the particular mark The tactics of the Islamic State is a few weeks after the group threatened to attack schools in the area in retaliation for military operations. Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, said the authorities suspected the Islamic State of being behind the attack.
Nangarhar lies along the Afghan border with Pakistan. sustained operations by Afghan commandos and US airstrikes. US and Afghan officials have said militants' territory has been reduced to a few districts in the country, but the group continues to report threats and suicide bombings.
While the Afghan Government and the United States The Afghan Government and the Taliban declared that the Afghan government and the Taliban proclaimed the ceasefire last month, the only day of the war. Islamic State has claimed the end of 17 years of war with the Taliban. deadly attacks in Nangarhar in which members of the government and Taliban were killed.
Most of the victims of Sunday's suicide bombing in Jalalabad – including 17 of these – were Sikh and Hindu minority religious groups. he comes to see Mr. Ghani, according to Najibullah Kamawal, the provincial director of public health.
Vibrant minority groups that numbered hundreds of thousands of people across Afghanistan, Hindus and Sikhs suffered targeted persecution in addition to the all-out war that ravaged Afghanistan. Community leaders estimate that there are only a few hundred families left, the others migrating to India or the West in the last four decades.
Among the victims of Sunday's attack was Avtar Singh Khalsa, the only Sikh candidate. Parliamentary elections in Afghanistan in October. Health officials in Nangarhar confirmed that Mr. Khalsa had died during the attack.
His candidacy drew general attention in Afghanistan and was celebrated as a sign of the minority group's resilience and dedication despite the difficult times. the dead were Rawail Singh, who was an active presence in civil society in Kabul. In one of the last photos posted on his Facebook page, one sees Mr. Singh painting with his fourth-grade daughter. "My sweet daughter, learning to paint and study at the Afghan National Institute of Music," says part of the legend.
In the previous attack of the school in the district of Khogyani, the attackers beheaded three guards in the boys Malikyar Hotak. Mohammed Asif Shinwari, a spokesman for the Nangarhar Education Department
Malik Makee, a former district tribe who also heads a pro-government militia, said he and his forces had arrived on the scene after the residents asked for help. The three men who were killed were "older than me," he says.
"We shook their heads before taking them to the hospital and preparing them for the funeral," he said. ] Last month, the Islamic State's affiliate in Afghanistan said in a statement and in radio broadcasts that it would target schools – especially those that teach girls – in response to US and Afghan military operations
. tried to enter the Nangarhar Education Department in Jalalabad, the capital of the province. Ten civilians and one policeman were wounded in the attack, the authorities said.
"Afghan schools are increasingly threatened by military, ideological and political loopholes, with attacks in eastern Afghanistan. program for students moved to Malikyar Hotak school, said in a statement
. Makee, the militia commander, said that the school that was attacked last Saturday was in an area largely controlled by the Taliban.
Government control in Khogyani was restricted to the district center for many years.
Last year, while Islamic State fighters were stuck in neighboring districts, they attempted to take over the Taliban in Khogyani and establish a presence there. But they faced resistance from the Taliban and the Afghan government
Zabihullah Ghazi reported from Jalalabad, and Mujib Mashal from Kabul.
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