Islamic State Khorasan Chief Mawlawi Abdullah, Who Planned Kabul Gurudwara Attack, Arrested

On March 25, a gurdwara in Kabul was attacked by four terrorists including a suicide bomber. At least 27 civilians were killed and eight others were wounded in the terror attack.

Image Courtesy: ANI

Kabul: Leader of Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) Aslam Farooqui has been arrested on Saturday, on charges of planning the March 25 Kabul Gurdwara attack. The ISKP had claimed responsibility for the attack carried out on the gurdwara at the Shor Bazaar area in Afghan's capital. Farooqui aka Mawlawi Abdullah, is a Pakistani national and was earlier associated with proscribed Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Tehreek-e-Taliban terror outfits. He replaced Mawlawi Zia-ul-Haq aka Abu Omar Khorasani as the ISKP chief in April 2019. He belongs to the Mamozai tribe and from the Orakzai agency area on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. On March 25, heavily armed gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a Sikh gurdwara in the heart of Kabul - killing  27 civilians and wounding eight others. Four terrorists  including a suicide bomber carried it out and it has been termed as one of the deadliest attacks on the minority community in Afghanistan. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had condemned it by saying that such an attack shows the extreme weakness of the enemy and that places of worship should not be vulnerable to violence. The barbaric attack was also strongly condemned by the international community including India and the US. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had registered a case against the ISKP for the attack, making it the first case registered for terror activity that has been orchestrated outside India. The recent amendments in NIA Act have empowered it to investigate terror cases which are committed at any place outside India, affecting the interests of India or against Indian citizens. (With inputs from agencies)