Sikh poll candidate among 19 dead in Afghan blast
SUICIDE BOMBER Avtar Singh, lone Sikh nominee for Oct 20 elections, and others killed as IS bomber targets delegation on its way to meet President Ghani in Jalalabad
JALALABAD: A suicide bomb attack in Jalalabad, a city in eastern Afghanistan, where president Ashraf Ghani was visiting killed at least 19 people, including the only Sikh candidate in upcoming legislative elections, officials said on Sunday.
The attacker targeted a convoy of Sikhs and Hindus on its way to meet president Ghani.
Of the 19 killed, 17 were Sikhs and Hindus, said provincial health director Najibullah Kamawal. Another 20 people were wounded in the attack.
Avtar Singh Khalsa, the only Sikh candidate running in the October 20 parliamentary and district council elections, was among the dead, an Indian embassy official said.
In a statement the embassy condemned the “cowardly terrorist” attack.
The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group.
There were scenes of anguish at the hospital where grieving relatives wept and hugged each other as they waited for news of their loved ones.
Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Manjit Singh GK condemned the attack and said the Sikhs across the globe were in a state of shock. Pakistan SGPC general secretary Gopal Singh said he will ask the Pakistan prime minister to take up the matter with Afghanistan government.
Flaying the attack, Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder asked the global community to come together to wipe out the IS and other terror forces. “My government extends all help to the victims and their families,” he tweeted on Sunday night.
Small communities of Sikhs and Hindus reside in what is otherwise an overwhelmingly Muslim nation. It is not clear if they were the intended target of the attack.
Interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish confirmed a suicide bomber carried out the attack --- the latest in a series of recent deadly assaults in the restive province.
Ghani’s spokesman said the president was still in Nangarhar but was “away from danger”.
Ghani arrived in Jalalabad earlier Sunday to open a hospital, part of a two-day visit to the province bordering Pakistan.
The attack came a day after Ghani ordered Afghan security forces to resume offensive operations against the Taliban following the expiry of the government’s 18-day ceasefire.