Four killed as gunmen attack Sikhs gathered at a Gurdwara in Afghanistan

Kabul: A group of gunmen stormed a Gurdwara in the heart of the Afghan capital’s old city on Wednesday, killing at least four people, a minority Sikh parliamentarian said.

The Sikh community in Afghanistan is a minority there. Afghanistan’s interior ministry said that police were present at the place of worship, but that the firing was continuing.

The parliamentarian, Narindra Singh Khalsa, said he was near the Gurdwara when the attack happened and ran to the site. He said at least four people were killed.

No one has taken responsibility for the attack yet. Earlier this month an Islamic State affiliate attacked a gathering of minority Shiite Muslims in Kabul, the capital, killing 32 people.

Sikhs have suffered widespread discrimination in the conservative Muslim country and have also been targeted by Islamic extremists.

Under the Taliban rule in the late 1990s, they were asked to identify themselves by wearing yellow armbands, but the rule was not enforced.

In recent years, large numbers of Sikhs and Hindus have sought asylum in India, which has a Hindu majority and a large Sikh population.