China Urges Taliban to Protect Citizens After Kabul Restaurant Blast Kills Seven

Beijing/Kabul: China has demanded that the Taliban government take all necessary measures to protect Chinese citizens following a deadly explosion at a Chinese-run restaurant in Kabul, which killed at least seven people.

Officials reported that six Afghan nationals and one Chinese citizen died in the blast on Monday at a Chinese restaurant in a heavily-guarded area of the city centre, with several others injured.

The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, though Kabul police said the “nature of the explosion is unknown so far and is being investigated.”

China has repeatedly urged its citizens to avoid travel to Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized power in 2021. IS has carried out numerous bombings in the country since then. Speaking on Tuesday, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said China had “made urgent representations with the Afghan side, demanding that the Afghan side spare no effort to treat the injured, and further take effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens.”

Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said the explosion occurred near the kitchen of the Chinese Noodle restaurant, located under a guesthouse in the capital’s Shahr-e-Naw area.

Dejan Panic, Afghanistan director of humanitarian group EMERGENCY, said their hospital received “20 people,” seven of whom were dead on arrival. Four women and a child were among the injured.

Footage shared on social media showed a large hole ripped into the side of the building. Eyewitnesses told BBC Afghan that a car outside the restaurant was completely destroyed, while locals helped rush critically injured victims to hospitals. Large sheets were later used to cover the damaged building.

The restaurant mainly served Chinese Muslims and was operated by a Chinese Muslim man from Xinjiang, his wife, and an Afghan business partner.

IS said in a statement that China was on its “list” of targets, citing China’s “increasing crimes against the oppressed Uyghur Muslims.” Beijing has repeatedly denied accusations of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region.

The group previously claimed responsibility for a 2022 attack on a Chinese-owned hotel in Kabul, which killed three attackers and injured at least two others. Chinese nationals have also been targeted in Tajikistan in recent months, with six killed in three separate incidents in November. Beijing has since advised its citizens to avoid the Tajik-Afghan border.