China Presses Taliban to Protect Its Citizens After Kabul Blast
At least 7 people died in a Kabul restaurant explosion. China demands the Taliban safeguard its citizens amid rising attacks on Chinese nationals in Afghanistan.
Beijing has demanded that the Taliban government protect its citizens after a bombing at a Chinese restaurant in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least seven people.
Officials told media outlets that six Afghans and one Chinese national were killed, and several others wounded, in the bombing at a Chinese restaurant in a heavily guarded area in the heart of the city on Monday.
The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack – although Kabul police said the "nature of the explosion is still unknown and is under investigation."
China has urged its citizens not to travel to Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized control in 2021. Since then, the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for several bombings.
Speaking on Tuesday, Beijing's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Xiaokun said China had "made urgent representations to the Afghan side, and demanded that the Afghan side spare no effort to treat the injured and take effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens."
City police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said the blast occurred near the kitchen of the Chinese noodle restaurant, which is located beneath a guesthouse in the Shahr-e-Naw area of the capital.
Dejan Panic, Afghanistan director for the aid group Emergency, said "20 people" were brought to their hospital, seven of whom were already dead. The injured included four women and a child.
Footage circulating on social media after the blast showed a large hole in the side of the building, Reuters news agency reported.
Eyewitnesses told Afghan media that a car parked outside the restaurant was completely destroyed, and locals helped transport people in "critical condition" to the hospital. Large sheets were later used to cover the bodies at the building. Police spokesperson Zadran said the restaurant primarily served Chinese Muslims and was run by a Chinese Muslim man from China's Xinjiang region, his wife, and his Afghan business partner.
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In its statement, the local branch of ISIS said that China is on its "list" of targets, particularly given China's "increasing crimes against the oppressed Uyghur Muslims."
China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity against the Uyghur population and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
The Chinese government has denied all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. ISIS previously claimed responsibility for a 2022 attack on a Chinese hotel in Kabul, which killed three attackers and injured at least two other people.
More recently, Chinese nationals have been targeted by unknown assailants near the border in Tajikistan. In November, six Chinese citizens were killed in three separate incidents. Beijing has urged its citizens to leave the Tajik-Afghan border area.
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