Around 160 Sikh and Hindu citizens of Afghanistan may have narrowly escaped Thursday's twin bombings near the Kabul airport that killed several people. These members of the war-ravaged country's minority communities have now taken refuge inside a gurdwara, informed people have said. Around 145 Afghan Sikhs and 15 Hindus were at the spot last night hours before the blasts at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan's capital. They were looking to make their way out of the country following the takeover last week by the Taliban, ANI and NDTV reported. 

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee President Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Thursday said the group may have just about managed to escape the carnage.
 
"Today's Kabul airport explosion has happened at exactly same place where they were standing yesterday," tweeted Sirsa.

"We thank the Almighty that such thing didn't happen yesterday," he said, posting pictures of the explosions' aftermath.

Meanwhile, an Indian Air Force aircraft C-17 Globemaster, carrying 24 Indians and 11 Nepalese evacuees from Kabul landed at Hindon Airport in Ghaziabad on Thursday. "Indian Embassy and Indian Government rescued us and brought us here to Delhi. We are very thankful to them," said Shiva, a Nepali national among the people who were evacuated from Afghanistan and brought to India.

As many as 565 people, including 112 Afghan nationals, have been evacuated by India from Afghanistan since the Taliban seized control of the war-torn country, the Ministry of External Affairs informed the floor leaders of political parties in Parliament on Thursday.

Among the 565 evacuees, 175 were embassy personnel, 263 other Indian nationals, 112 were Afghan nationals including Hindus and Sikhs and 15 were third-country nationals, sources told ANI news agency.