At least seven killed in Kabul hotel blast

An explosion tore through a hotel in a heavily guarded part of central Kabul on Monday, killing seven people and injuring several others, authorities in the Afghan capital said.

“An explosion occurred in a hotel in on Gulfaroshi Street in Shahr-e-Naw, the fourth district of Kabul city, causing casualties,” police spokesman Khalid Zadran said without detailing the cause.

Abdul Mateen Qani, the interior ministry spokesman, told AFP: “We do have casualties, both wounded and killed”.

Reuters reported, citing authorities in Kabul, that at least seven people were killed in a blast in the Afghan capital Kabul’s Shahr-e-Naw area.

Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said the hotel was in the commercial Shahr-e-Naw neighbourhood that includes large office buildings, shopping complexes and embassies. The district is considered one of the safest in Kabul.

Videos shared on social media showed debris scattered on the street outside and smoke spewing from a large hole torn into the front of the hotel building.

“So far, we have received 20 people at our hospital,” Dejan Panic, humanitarian group EMERGENCY’s Country Director in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

“Among the wounded are four women and a child … Unfortunately, seven people were already dead on arrival.” There was no immediate word on the cause of the explosion. Authorities said they were investigating.

“According to preliminary reports, a number of people were killed and injured,” Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Mateen Qani told Reuters, adding that details would be released later.

The Shahr-e-Naw area is home to foreigners and is considered one of the most secure areas in Kabul.

The Taliban took control of war-torn Afghanistan in 2021 and said it would restore security, but bomb attacks have continued, many of them claimed by the local arm of the militant Islamic State group.