Several people died and were injured after a deadly explosion hit a hotel in central Kabul on Monday (January 19), the city’s police and the Afghan government said. The cause of the explosion was unclear.
“There was an explosion at a hotel on Gulfaroshi Street in Shahr-e-Naw, the fourth district of Kabul city, which claimed lives,” said Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran, without elaborating on the cause.
A purported video of an explosion at a hotel in Kabul that circulated on social media showed a car driving near a Chinese hotel before the explosion destroyed it. It is not yet known whether explosives were placed in the car.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told AFP that there were many casualties and injuries. “We have casualties, wounded and killed,” he said.
According to China’s Xinhua News Agency, two Chinese nationals were also seriously injured in the blast at the Kabul hotel, restaurant staff said.
Afghan security guards were killed and the restaurant was severely damaged, Xinhua reported.
Flower sellers usually work in an area where there are several restaurants and hospitals.
