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At least seven people were killed and dozens injured in an explosion at a restaurant in central Kabul on Monday, police and an Italian charity that run a surgical unit in the city said. The cause of the explosion is yet to be determined.
Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for the Kabul Police Command, said the explosion occurred in a Chinese restaurant in the Shahr-e-Naw district of the Afghan capital. He said the restaurant is jointly owned by an Afghan man, a Chinese man and his wife.
Zadran, who said the restaurant was popular among Chinese Muslims, said one Chinese and six Afghans were killed and several others were injured. A police spokesperson said the explosion occurred in the kitchen area of the restaurant and the cause is under investigation.
According to the Italian charity EMERGENCY, the surgery center in Kabul, near the site of the explosion, received 20 people from the blast, 7 of whom died. He pointed out that the death toll is still tentative.
The organization’s country director in Afghanistan, Dejan Panik, said four women and a child were among the injured.
“The wounded, some of them are being evaluated for surgery, they’ve got cuts and bruises,” Panik added.
Interior Ministry Spokesman Abdul Matin Qani said that although the explosion resulted in death or injury, there was no information about the number.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said two Chinese nationals were seriously injured in the blast and the security guard was killed.
The footage, broadcast by local television station Tolo News and captured in a car windshield, shows people running and walking along the road with smoke and dust blowing behind them.