(AFP): Three Spanish tourists and an Afghan were killed Friday in a shooting in the popular tourism destination of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, local and Spanish authorities said.

Afghanistan’s Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani confirmed the four deaths to AFP, saying the victims were killed in gunfire Friday evening in Bamiyan city.

Another four foreigners and three Afghans were wounded, he added.

Spain’s foreign ministry said later Friday that three of the dead were Spanish tourists, adding that at least one other Spanish national was wounded. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Overwhelmed by the news of the murder of Spanish tourists in Afghanistan.”

The European Union condemned the attack “in the strongest terms.”

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

‘Sounds of successive gunshots’

According to preliminary information provided by hospital sources, the wounded were from Norway, Australia, Lithuania and Spain.

Security forces have arrested four people in connection with the attack, Qani said.

He did not say if there had been multiple shooters.

The Taliban government “strongly condemns this crime, expresses its deep feelings to the families of the victims and assures that all the criminals will be found and punished”, Qani said in a statement.

A local resident, who did not want to be named, said he “heard the sounds of successive gunshots, and the city streets leading to the site were blocked immediately by the security forces”.

Bamiyan, home to the giant Buddhas blown up by the Taliban in 2001, is Afghanistan’s top tourist destination.

The Taliban government has yet to be officially recognised by any country but it has welcomed foreign tourism.

Increasing numbers of visitors have travelled to Afghanistan as security has improved since the Taliban ended their insurgency after ousting the Western-backed government in 2021.

They holiday without consular support after most embassies were evacuated following the Taliban authorities’ takeover, with Western governments warning against visiting.

Deadly attacks on foreigners have been rare in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power.

Arriving in western Herat province Friday evening, a foreign tourist posted on a WhatsApp group for travellers in Afghanistan that he and others were stopped by the Taliban authorities and told “that because of Bamiyan we were no longer safe”.

“After some time and Google translate, we convinced them to let us go, they said go eat quickly and get off the streets,” the tourist said.

The Bamiyan region is majority inhabited by members of the Hazara Shia community.

The historically persecuted religious minority has been repeatedly targeted by the Islamic State group, which considers them heretics.

The number of bombings and suicide attacks in Afghanistan has reduced dramatically since the Taliban authorities took power.

However, a number of armed groups, including IS, remain a threat.

Seol (AFP): North Korea has test-fired a tactical ballistic missile equipped with a “new autonomous navigation system”, state media said Saturday, with leader Kim Jong Un vowing to boost the country’s nuclear force.

Kim oversaw the Friday test-launch into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, on a mission to evaluate the “accuracy and reliability of the autonomous navigation system”, Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The launch was the latest in a string of ever more sophisticated tests by North Korea, which has fired off cruise missiles, tactical rockets and hypersonic weapons in recent months, in what the nuclear-armed, UN-sanctioned country says is a drive to upgrade its defences.

The Friday launch came hours after leader Kim’s powerful sister Kim Yo Jong denied allegations by Seoul and Washington that Pyongyang is shipping weapons to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.

Seoul’s military on Friday described the test as “several flying objects presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles” from North Korea’s eastern Wonsan area into waters off its coast.

The suspected missiles travelled around 300 kilometres (186 miles) before splashing down in waters between South Korea and Japan, the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul said.

“The accuracy and reliability of the autonomous navigation system were verified through the test fire,” Pyongyang’s KCNA said Saturday, adding leader Kim expressed “great satisfaction” over the launch.

In a separate report released on Saturday, KCNA said Kim visited a military production facility the previous day and urged for “more rapidly bolstering the nuclear force” of the nation “without halt and hesitation”.

During the visit, he said the “enemies would be afraid of and dare not to play with fire only when they witness the nuclear combat posture of our state”, according to KCNA.

Pyongyang’s nuclear force “will meet a very important change and occupy a remarkably raised strategic position” when its munitions production plan, aimed to be completed by 2025, is carried out, it added.

Putin’s attention

Seoul and Washington have accused North Korea of sending arms to Russia, which would violate rafts of United Nations sanctions on both countries, with experts saying the recent spate of testing may be of weapons destined for use on battlefields in Ukraine.

North Korea is barred by UN sanctions from any tests using ballistic technology, but its key ally Moscow used its UN Security Council veto in March to effectively end UN monitoring of violations, for which Pyongyang has specifically thanked Russia.

But leader Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong said Friday that Pyongyang had “no intention to export our military technical capabilities to any country”, adding that the North’s priority was “to make the war readiness and war deterrent of our army more perfect in quality and quantity”.

She accused Seoul and Washington of “misleading the public opinion” with their allegations that Pyongyang was transferring arms to Russia.

The Friday launches come as Russian leader Vladimir Putin was in China on Friday, the final day of a visit aiming to promote crucial trade with Beijing – North Korea’s most important ally – and win greater support for his war effort in Ukraine.

North Korea’s latest weapons tests were likely intended to attract the attention of Putin while he was in China, said Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies.

The North would benefit greatly from an expected visit by Putin to Pyongyang, and “they want their country to be used as a military logistics base during Russia’s ongoing war (in Ukraine)”, he told AFP.

Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said: “China and Russia’s irresponsible handling of North Korea, riding on the new Cold War dynamics, is further encouraging Pyongyang’s nuclear armament.”

Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang declaring Seoul its “principal enemy”.

It has jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and threatened war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial infringement.

Lahore: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was unanimously nominated as acting president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The meeting of the central working committee of Muslim League (N) was held at the party secretariat in Model Town in which Shehbaz Sharif was nominated as acting president.

Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Rana Sanaullah, Ahsan Iqbal, Ishaq Dar and others participated in the meeting.

Shehbaz Sharif and Ahsan suggested the name of Nawaz Sharif for acting president. Maryam, Sanaullah, Ishaq, Pervez Rashid and other members supported, however, Nawaz Sharif nominated Shehbaz Sharif as acting president.

The prime minister will remain the acting president of PML-N till May 28. On this occasion, the date of the general council meeting was also announced.