Gunmen kill four, including three foreign tourists, in central Afghanistan
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Taliban officials did not immediately reveal the nationality of the tourists.
KABUL (AFP) - Three foreign tourists and an Afghan were killed on Friday in the central Afghan province of Bamiyan, said the Taliban's interior ministry.
Four foreign nationals and three Afghans were also injured in the attack when gunmen opened fire, said interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani. Four people have been arrested, he said.
Taliban officials did not immediately reveal the nationality of the tourists and the identity of the attackers.
According to preliminary information provided by hospital sources, the three foreigners who were killed were Spanish nationals.
The wounded were from Norway, Australia, Lithuania and Spain.
Diplomatic sources said they were seeking to confirm the information, including the identities of the dead.
Sounds of gunshots, streets blocked by security forces
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.
Since taking over Afghanistan in 2021 the Taliban have 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.
Qani did not say if there had been multiple shooters in Friday's attack.
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".
'GET OFF THE STREETS'
Deadly attacks on foreigners have been rare in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
Tourists have been travelling to the country in increasing numbers in recent years as security has improved since the Taliban ended their insurgency after ousting the US-backed government.
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 Shiite community.
The historically persecuted religious minority has been repeatedly targeted by the Islamic State (IS) 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 the IS group, remain a threat.
