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Iran condemns terrorist attack on foreign tourists in central Afghanistan

Saturday, 18 May 2024 8:48 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 18 May 2024 9:48 AM ]

In this file picture, a Taliban soldier in front of the Bamiyan Buddha ruins in Bamiyan Province, central Afghanistan, on March 2, 2023. (Photo by Reuters)

Iran has strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a group of foreign tourists at a market in Afghanistan’s central province of Bamiyan, where at least six people were killed.

Nasser Kan’ani, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, in a statement on Saturday, expressed sympathy with the bereaved and wished a swift recovery for the injured.

The group were fired on while walking through a market in the mountainous city of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, around 180 kilometres from the capital Kabul, on Friday evening.

"All dead bodies have been shifted to Kabul and are in the forensic department and the wounded are also in Kabul. Both dead and wounded include women," the government's interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qane said Saturday.

"Among the eight wounded, of whom four are foreigners, only one elderly foreign woman is not in a very stable situation."

Qane said the death toll had risen to six, including two Afghan civilians and one Taliban member.

Over 20 killed in bombing blamed on Daesh in Afghanistan

It was at a specific location where Taliban government staff was lining up to collect their monthly pay slips.

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

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,” he said.

Afghan hospital sources said preliminary information indicated that three Spanish nationals were killed, and that the wounded were from Norway, Australia, Lithuania, and Spain.

A spokesman for the Spanish foreign ministry confirmed that Spanish nationals were among the victims in the attack. The spokesman said the total number of victims had yet to be confirmed.

Mountainous Bamiyan 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.

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