KABUL JAN 20 : A powerful explosion tore through a restaurant in downtown Kabul on Monday, killing at least seven people and wounding around a dozen others, according to an Italian medical charity operating a surgical facility in the Afghan capital.
The blast struck in the bustling Shahr-e-Naw district, initially reported by police spokesman Khalid Zadran as targeting a hotel but later confirmed as a restaurant by multiple sources. EMERGENCY, the Italian NGO running Kabul’s main surgical center, reported receiving 20 blast victims, including seven who arrived already deceased. The casualty figures remain provisional as treatment continues.
Among the injured were four women and a child, according to EMERGENCY’s Country Director in Afghanistan, Dejan Panic. “The wounded, some of whom are being assessed for surgery, have suffered lacerations and bruises,” he stated, highlighting the indiscriminate nature of the attack on civilians.
Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani confirmed both deaths and injuries but provided no specific numbers. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that two Chinese nationals suffered serious injuries, with a security guard killed in the same incident at the restaurant.
Video footage broadcast by local Tolo News captured the immediate aftermath: thick smoke and dust billowing through Shahr-e-Naw streets as panicked pedestrians fled the scene, filmed from inside a moving vehicle.
The motive behind the explosion remains unclear, with no group immediately claiming responsibility. The incident underscores persistent security challenges in Kabul, where such attacks continue to target civilian areas despite Taliban governance.
EMERGENCY’s swift response at its Kabul surgical center played a critical role in treating survivors, though the full extent of casualties awaits confirmation as rescue and medical operations proceed.
