KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An explosion in downtown Kabul on Monday killed at least seven people and wounded about a dozen more, according to an Italian medical charity running a surgical care facility in the city. The reasons for the blast were not immediately clear.
The explosion appeared to have hit a restaurant in the Shahr-e-Naw district of the Afghan capital. In the first few minutes after the blast, a police spokesman, Khalid Zadran, had identified the facility affected as a hotel.
The Italian NGO, EMERGENCY, said its surgical center in Kabul had received 20 people from the blast, including seven who were already dead when they arrived. It noted the number of casualties was “still provisional.â€
Those injured included four women and a child, the organization's Country Director in Afghanistan, Dejan Panic, said.
“The wounded, some of whom are being assessed for surgery, have suffered lacerations and bruises,†he added.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said the blast had caused both deaths and injuries but did not have any details on the numbers.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said two Chinese people had been seriously injured and a security guard had been killed in the blast, which it said had occurred at a restaurant.
Footage aired by local television station Tolo News and filmed through a car windscreen showed people in the street with smoke and dust billowing behind them.
