Claim of responsibility issued by ISIS’s Khorasan Province (Telegram, June 18, 2022)
Abu Mohammad al-Tajiki (the Tajik), the main perpetrator of the attack (Telegram, June 19, 2022)
Overview
- On June 18, 2022, ISIS’s Khorasan Province carried out a combined attack on a Sikh temple in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. A member of the Sikh community and a Taliban member were killed and seven additional civilians were wounded.
- According to ISIS’s claim of responsibility, the attack was carried out as an act of defense of the honor of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, and an act of vengeance against the “Sikh and Hindu infidels” due to offensive statements by senior officials in India’s ruling party against the Prophet of Islam.[1] It should be noted that ISIS’s attack was preceded by a series of threats by various elements in ISIS. Thus, for example, Al-Aza’em, the media arm of ISIS’s Khorasan Province, released a 55-page booklet in Pashto strongly criticizing the Taliban government for not taking measures against the Indian government due to the offensive statements of two ruling party members against the Prophet Muhammad (@SaleemMehsud Twitter account, June 9, 2022).
- The attack on the Sikh temple in response to the statements of the Indian senior government officials was intended to portray the organization as the “protector of Islam” and defender of the honor of its Prophet. This in contrast to the response of other Islamic elements, mainly the Taliban government and Al-Qaeda that, according to ISIS, made empty threats or did not react at all.
- It should be noted that ISIS also carried out attacks against Sikhs in Afghanistan in 2018 and 2020.
Details of the attack
- On the morning of June 18, 2022, several armed men attacked a Sikh temple in the Karte Parwan area in central Kabul. According to the Interior Ministry’s spokesman, during the attack, there were about 30 people inside the temple. First, a hand grenade was thrown, causing a fire near the gate. There was an exchange of fire, and according to the police report, all the attackers were killed. Part of the temple went up in flames. According to the Taliban administration, a Sikh community member and a Taliban member were killed and seven civilians were wounded (Khaama Press, June 18, 2022; Reuters, June 18, 2022). Mullah Abdul Nafi Takoor, the Afghanistan Interior Ministry’s spokesperson, noted that a more serious catastrophe was prevented when Afghan security personnel stopped a vehicle loaded with explosives before it reached the temple (The Tribune, June 23, 2022).
Right: The Sikh temple in Kabul going up in flames during the attack (Al-Sharq, June 18, 2022). Left: The interior of the temple after the attack (from a video posted on the @sidhant Twitter account, June 18, 2022).
- ISIS’s Khorasan Province and its Amaq News Agency issued claims of responsibility for the attack, and posted a photo of the main perpetrator, codenamed Abu Muhammad al-Tajiki (the Tajik). According to ISIS, Al-Tajiki, who was armed with a machine gun, a pistol and hand grenades, carried out the attack on a temple of the “Sikh and Hindu infidels.”
Abu Mohammad al-Tajiki (the Tajik), the main perpetrator of the attack
(Telegram, June 19, 2022)
- According to ISIS, he first killed the security guard at the entrance, then went inside and opened fire at the worshipers. Two IEDs were activated against a Taliban patrol force that reached the gate of the temple, and several Taliban operatives were killed or wounded. After the Taliban brought forces into the area, a car bomb was activated against them. Two more IEDs were activated against Taliban patrols attempting to reach the scene of the attack.
- According to ISIS, the exchange of fire between Taliban operatives and the perpetrator inside the temple lasted more than three hours, during which repeated attempts by the forces to break into the temple failed. They eventually managed to break into the building and killed the perpetrator.
- According to ISIS, about 30 Hindus and Sikhs and at least 20 Taliban operatives were killed or wounded in the attack, far more than the figures reported by the Taliban administration. It is possible that the number of casualties was much higher than reported due to the magnitude of the attack and the Taliban government’s tendency to understate the number of casualties in ISIS attacks. According to eyewitnesses, during the attack, there were about 30 worshipers inside the temple. After the attack, Taliban members prevented entry into the temple. Therefore, it is not known how many worshipers survived the attack, if any (Al-Jazeera, June 18, 2022).
- According to a statement by ISIS’s Amaq News Agency, the attack was carried out in response to statements insulting the Prophet Muhammad made by a senior Indian government official who recently visited the Taliban (Telegram, June 18, 2022). ISIS’s Khorasan Province noted that the attack was carried out as (an act expressing) Prophet Muhammad’s victory, implying that the attack was carried out in revenge for insulting Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, by senior Indian officials. The statements against the Prophet Muhammad caused a stir in the Islamic world, leading to a wave of condemnations and threats by Islamic elements, headed by Al-Qaeda, to India, the center of the Hindu and Sikh communities (Telegram, June 18, 2022).
Right: Claim of responsibility issued by the Amaq News Agency. Left: Claim of responsibility issued by ISIS’s Khorasan Province (Telegram, June 18, 2022)
Implications
- The attack was presented by ISIS as an act of defense of the honor of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, and an act of vengeance against the “infidel Sikhs and Hindus,” in view of insulting statements by senior members of the ruling party in India against the Prophet of Islam. The attack was carried out in response to a statement against the Prophet of Islam, as a means of presenting ISIS as a “defender of Islam” and out of an authentic religious perception that whoever insults the Prophet’s good name deserves to die.
- The attack was also an attempt by ISIS to convey a message that while Al-Qaeda is threatening revenge against the Indian government for insulting the Prophet of Islam[2], and the Taliban government is hosting representatives of the Indian government rather than condemning them, ISIS is effectively defending the Prophet’s honor. This is reflected in the claim of responsibility, which states that the attack was carried out in response to the attack on the Prophet Muhammad by senior Indian government officials who recently visited the Taliban.
- The Khorasan Province’s participation in the general radical Islamic discourse against the Indian regime in the wake of the offensive statements is also designed to mobilize supporters for ISIS, especially in India, which has a Muslim population of around 180 million (according to a 2011 census), and in the global radical Islamic space, which is critical of the Indian regime, perceiving it as hostile to Muslims. It should be noted that ISIS’s attempt to leverage the hostility between Muslims and Hindus to mobilize support in India is part of an ongoing effort by ISIS to find a foothold in India for the past three years. Two noteworthy events in this context are the establishment of ISIS’s India Province in 2019 and the launch of the Voice of Hind magazine in 2020[3]. It should be noted that ISIS’s claim of responsibility states that the site of the attack was a Sikh and Hindu temple, while other sources state that it was a Sikh temple. This is probably due to the desire to link the Hindus, India’s majority population (about 80%), with the Sikhs (who comprise about 1.5% of India’s population). The Khorasan Province also emphasized the fact that the main terrorist in the attack on the Sikh temple was a Tajik. Apparently, ISIS’s objective is to encourage its Tajik supporters to join its ranks.
- This is not the first time that ISIS carried out an attack against Sikhs, who are a tiny minority in Afghanistan. In 2018, an attack was carried out in the Nangarhar Province. At least 19 Sikhs were killed and 20 others were wounded (Al-Jazeera, March 25, 2020). On March 25, 2020, an attack was carried out on a Sikh temple in Kabul. The Afghan authorities reported 25 dead and eight wounded. According to ISIS, 60 Sikhs and members of the security forces were killed or wounded in the attack. According to ISIS’s Khorasan Province, the attack was an act of retaliation on behalf of the Muslims in Kashmir (Telegram, March 25, 2020).
- There are somewhere between 100 and 200 Hindus and Sikhs left in Afghanistan, since many families from these communities left Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country in August 2021 (in 2020, the number of Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan was estimated at 700). In the wake of the attack, India granted over 100 electronic visas (E-Visas) to Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan so that they could leave the country, where their lives were in grave danger (Khaama Press, June 18, 2022). Thus, it appears that the members of these communities will soon disappear from Afghanistan altogether, and ISIS will apparently be forced to direct its attacks against the Hazara, a Shiite minority group that remains in the country and represents a target for attacks by ISIS along with Taliban officials.
- Of late, ISIS’s Khorasan Province has been attempting to establish itself as a key element operating in East Asia and not just a local element operating within Afghanistan. In this context, it should be noted that activity by the province against Tajikistan and Uzbekistan has been identified (rocket fire from Afghanistan into their territory).[4] It appears that after the decrease in activity in Syria and Iraq, ISIS sees this region populated by Muslims as having high potential for expanding its influence and activity.
[1] In late May 2022, during a TV debate, the spokesperson of the BJP, Narendra Modi’s ruling party, made derogatory comments about Muslim worshipers and the Prophet Muhammad and mocked her Muslim rival. What she said caused a stir. A short while afterwards, another BJP leader posted a tweet about the Prophet Muhammad, which aggravated the situation.. The Indian government was forced to try to calm the tension with several Muslim countries. ↑
[2] For further information about Al-Qaeda’s threats in the context of statements made by senior Indian government officials against Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, See the ITIC’s Information Bulletin Spotlight on Global Jihad from June 2-8, 2022: ↑
[3] The evolution of the Islamic State propaganda in India. An Analysis of Voice of Hind, in: https://www.specialeurasia.com/2022/05/04/islamic-state-india-propaganda/. ↑
[4] According to an announcement by ISIS’s Khorasan Province, its operatives fired 10 rockets at Uzbek army positions in the southern Termez region, near the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan border. According to ISIS, definite hits were identified. Uzbek government officials have denied the allegations, claiming that no rockets were fired at Uzbekistan. On May 7, 2022, operatives of ISIS’s Khorasan Province fired nine rockets at a Tajikistan army headquarters in the Khwajah Ghar District, in the Takhar Province, near the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border (Telegram, May 7, 2022). Official sources in Tajikistan confirmed the information (Sputnik, May 8, 2022). ↑
