Militants attack on temple in Kabul kills 25 civilians

A total of 25 civilians were killed and eight others injured as armed militants stormed a temple in Kabul on Wednesday, Interior Ministry spokesman Tareq Arian said.

"Unfortunately, in the terrorist attack on the temple in Police District 1 today morning 25 civilians were killed and eight others wounded," Arian told Xinhua.

A total of 80 people including women and children were rescued, the official said.

Condemning the incident as a coward terrorist attack, the official said the terrorists once again indicated their disrespect to human being and humanity by targeting a worship place and killing civilians.

The militants launched the deadly attack at 7:45 a.m. local time, according to the official. Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and carried out cleanup operations.

Locals said about 200 worshippers from the Sikh community were inside the temple during the attack and cleanup operations, which lasted for a couple of hours.

The hardliner Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for the bloody attack.