At least 25 civilians were killed and eight others wounded as a gunman attacked a Gurudwara, a worship place of Sikh, in Kabul, the Interior Ministry (MoI) said.

The armed man gunned down the guard of the temple in the Shor Bazar area in PD^2 of the city and entered the building at around 7:45 a.m. Wednesday. 

In a statement released Wednesday, the MoI said that the Afghan forces rescued at least 80 hostages – including women and children – during the raids.

The 6-hour attack finished after the assistant was shot down by Afghan forces.

The MoI condemned the attack and called it a ‘terror act’, emphasizing that Afghan forces are committed to ensuring the security of each Afghan citizen.

The US condemned theses “fanatics & criminals who target a house of worship to harm innocents.” 

“Peace will only come when people resolve their differences through words, not guns,” US said.

Meanwhile, India in a statement condemned the “heinous terror attack.”

“Such cowardly attacks on the places of religious worship of the minority community is reflective of the diabolical mindset of the perpetrators and their backers,” the statement said.

The Islamic State also known as Deash via its online Amaq news agency claimed responsibility for the attack. The group carried out an attack in June 2018 in eastern Nangarhar province in which at least 19 people mostly Sikh minority were killed.