This deadly attack is apparently the first against foreign tourists in Afghanistan since the return to power of the Taliban in August 2021. The bodies of three Spanish tourists and three Afghan nationals, as well as eight wounded, were transported to Kabul after several blows Fire was fired on Friday at a market in Bamiyan, a town in central Afghanistan, the Taliban government announced on Saturday.
Some 180 km from the Afghan capital, Bamiyan, where there are the giant Buddhas dynamited by the Taliban in 2001, is Afghanistan’s leading tourist destination.
Foreign tourists among the victims
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares confirmed on Saturday that three of his nationals had died, out of a “group of six Spaniards affected by the attack”, while another had been injured and operated on in Kabul.
According to the latest information, “three Afghan citizens were killed in the attack”, including a Taliban and two civilians, announced the spokesperson for the Kabul government.
“Among the eight injured, including four foreigners, only an elderly foreign woman is not in a very stable situation,” added the Afghan spokesperson, stressing that the injured were now in the Afghan capital. The injured foreigners came from Norway, Australia, Lithuania and Spain, we learned from hospital sources.
“All the bodies have been transferred to Kabul and are in the forensic department,” said Abdul Mateen Qani, stressing that “women” were “among the dead and injured”, without further details. Minister Albares announced on public television TVE that the remains of the three Spaniards would “certainly be returned to Spain on Sunday”.
The UN shocked by “this deadly terrorist attack”
Spain, like other Western countries, evacuated its embassy in 2021, when the Taliban took power. The Spanish authorities are working in coordination with the European Union delegation in Kabul.
The EU condemned the attack “in the strongest terms”, and the UN mission in Afghanistan said it was “deeply shocked and dismayed by this deadly terrorist attack”, adding that it was helping to manage the situation.
“Seven suspects were arrested, one of whom was injured,” announced the Afghan spokesperson. “The investigation continues and the Islamic Emirate is seriously looking into this matter,” he said. If he believes that “the modus operandi shows that it is an attack”, he was cautious, explaining that the circumstances remained to be clarified.
Apart from IS attacks, security has generally returned to Afghanistan since 2021, after more than 40 years of deadly conflicts. “The Islamic Emirate strongly condemns this crime, expresses its deep regrets to the families of the victims and guarantees that all the criminals will be found and punished,” the Interior Ministry spokesperson said on Friday.