A suicide bomber blew himself up in a city in eastern Afghanistan where President Ashraf Ghani was visiting, killing at least 19 people, many of them Sikhs, in the latest violence to rock the country.
The attacker struck a market located hundreds of metres from the provincial governor's compound where Ghani was holding meetings, governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP.
Among the 19 dead were 12 Sikhs and Hindus, he told AFP. Another 20 people were wounded.
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Other sources, like news agency ANI, said the bombing was allegedly perpetrated by the Taliban under the patronage of Pakistan's intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Yet others say Pakistani terrorists - again via ISI direction - are actively targeting Hindus and Sikhs across the border in Afghanistan. It has long been known that the ISI - a state element - supports those carrying out terror acts against India.
Among those killed in Afghanistan yesterday was Avtar Singh Khalsa, who had planned to stand in October's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan. In this overwhelmingly Muslim nation, a small number of Hindus and Sikhs remain, and one seat in the Afghan parliament is reserved for a member of the small communities.
Parwiz Kawa, a noted journalist and writer in Afghanistan expressed grave concern over the barbaric killing of Avtar Singh and other members from the minority community.
