Australian tourist among eight injured, another six dead in Afghanistan shooting

Three Spanish tourists and three Afghan citizens have been killed by gunmen in Afghanistan’s central Bamyan province, the Taliban interior ministry says, in an attack that also injured an Australian.

The Australian was among eight foreigners and Afghans injured in the deadly attack when gunmen opened fire.

Afghan media said the foreigners were from Australia, Norway, Lithuania and Spain.

Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qaniee said seven suspects had been arrested. The identities of the attackers were not immediately clear.

Safiullah Rayed, the provincial information director, said the tourists came under attack as they left a bazaar in the provincial capital Bamyan city.

He said the assailants targeted the tourists while they were inside a vehicle touring the city.

Mountainous Bamyan is home to a UNESCO World Heritage site and the remains of two giant Buddha statues which were blown up by the Taliban during their previous rule in 2001.

Since taking over Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban has vowed to restore security and encourage a small but growing number of tourists trickling into the country – and sell tickets to access the Buddha statues.

The Islamic State group claimed an attack that injured Chinese citizens at a hotel popular with Chinese businessmen in Kabul in 2022.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said diplomats from Spanish missions in Pakistan and Qatar would travel to Afghanistan to facilitate the repatriation of the deceased tourists, who hailed from Catalonia.

They would also assist in the return of a Catalan woman injured in the attack and two other Spanish travellers who escaped unharmed.

The attack has elicited widespread condemnation globally.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the armed attack against a group of foreign tourists visiting Bamyan, Afghanistan,” the EU’s diplomatic corps spokesperson Nabila Massrali said in a press statement.

“Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims who lost their lives and those injured in the attack.”

In Tehran, the Iranian foreign ministry condemned the “terrorist act” and expressed “solidarity with the families of the victims”.

The Spanish embassy in Afghanistan has advised Spaniards not to travel to Afghanistan under any circumstances due to security risks.

The diplomatic mission suspended its activities following the fall of Kabul and the withdrawal of international troops in mid-2021 until security conditions allow for reopening.

The Spanish diplomatic mission operates temporarily from Doha, Qatar, without the ability to offer direct assistance or protection, according to the embassy.

– with EFE