At least seven killed in Kabul hotel blast

Kabul: An explosion tore through a hotel in a heavily guarded part of central Kabul on Monday, killing seven people and injuring several others, authorities in the Afghan capital said.

Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said the hotel was in the commercial Shahr-i-Naw neighbourhood that includes large office buildings, shopping complexes and embassies.

The district is considered one of the safest in Kabul.

Videos shared on social media showed debris scattered on the street outside and smoke spewing from a large hole torn into the front of the hotel building.

“So far, we have received 20 people at our hospital,” Dejan Panic, humanitarian group EMERGENCYs Country Director in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

“Among the wounded are four women and a child … Unfortunately, seven people were already dead on arrival.”

There was no immediate word on the cause of the explosion. Authorities said they were investigating.

China’s state news agency Xinhua, citing a hotel employee, reported that two Chinese citizens were seriously wounded in the incident. The agency also reported the death of an Afghan security guard.