Islamic State group claims blast on Chinese restaurant in Kabul

The interior of a Chinese restaurant is seen a day after an explosion killed at least seven people, including a Chinese national, in Kabul, yesterday [AP Photo]

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an explosion at a Chinese restaurant in Afghanistan’s capital that killed at least seven people, including a Chinese national, and wounded more than a dozen others.

In a statement posted on its Aamaq news agency yesterday [Macau time] the group said a suicide bomber entered the restaurant frequented by Chinese nationals in Kabul and detonated an explosive vest.

China has advised its citizens not to travel to Afghanistan in the near term after the bombing, and asked Chinese people and companies already in the country to strengthen security measures and evacuate from high-risk areas.

“China strongly condemns and resolutely opposes terrorism in all forms and supports Afghanistan and countries in the region in jointly combating all forms of terrorist violent acts,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a daily briefing in Beijing.

He said one Chinese national was killed and five others were wounded. He added that China is urging Afghan authorities “to make every effort to treat the injured, further take effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese nationals (and) projects,” and to find and punish the perpetrators.

The attack happened at a Chinese restaurant in the Shahr-e-Naw district in the city, according to police spokesperson Khalid Zadran, who said one Chinese national and six Afghans were killed in the blast. He said Monday that the restaurant was jointly owned by an Afghan man, a Chinese national and his wife.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Mufti Abdul Mateen Qani said Tuesday the incident was still being investigated. Afghan authorities have not officially confirmed the cause of the explosion.

The IS claim, which was widely shared by supporters of the militants, included a further threat against Chinese nationals in Afghanistan, linking the attack to China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims.

While nearly all nations withdrew from Afghanistan following the Taliban offensive of 2021 that led to them seizing Kabul, China has maintained a major economic presence in the country. Beijing has yet to formally recognize Afghanistan’s Taliban-run government.

Muhammad u Allah Nemati, who runs a shop opposite the restaurant and witnessed Monday’s blast, said: “When the explosion happened, I fell from my seat. I saw many people dead and injured.”

The Italian charity EMERGENCY, which operates a surgical center located near the site, said it had received the casualties shortly after the blast.

Bashir Khalil, a doctor at the hospital, said yesterday they had received 7 bodies and 14 wounded people, of which one was in critical condition. MDT/AP