China Urges Taliban to Safeguard Citizens After Deadly Blast

Tue Jan 20 2026 20:22:30 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

After a deadly explosion at a Chinese-run restaurant in Kabul killed seven, China demands improved safety measures for its nationals in Afghanistan.

China's government has made urgent demands to the Taliban for better protection of its citizens following a recent explosion at a Chinese restaurant in Kabul. The blast resulted in seven fatalities, including one Chinese national. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, adding pressure on the Taliban to ensure safety in the region.

Beijing has demanded the Taliban government protect its citizens after an explosion at a Chinese-run restaurant in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least seven people.

Six Afghans and one Chinese national were killed, and several more injured, in the blast at a Chinese restaurant in a heavily-guarded part of the city center on Monday, officials told media.

The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) said it was behind the attack - although police in Kabul said the nature of the explosion is unknown so far and is being investigated.

China has urged its citizens not to travel to Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized control in 2021. Islamic State has claimed numerous bombings since then.

Speaking on Tuesday, Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun added that China had made urgent representations with the Afghan side, demanding that the Afghan side spare no effort to treat the injured, further take effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens.

City police spokesman Khalid Zadran said the explosion took place near the kitchen of the Chinese Noodle restaurant, which is located under a guesthouse in the capital's Shahr-e-Naw area.

Dejan Panic, the Afghanistan director of humanitarian group EMERGENCY, said they received 20 people at their hospital, seven of whom were dead on arrival. Four women and a child were also among the injured.

Footage circulating on social media of the aftermath of the explosion showed a large hole torn in the side of the building, Reuters news agency said.

Witnesses reported seeing a car outside the restaurant completely destroyed, with locals rushing the critically injured to hospitals.

Police spokesman Zadran noted that the restaurant primarily served Chinese Muslims and was operated by a Chinese Muslim man from Xinjiang, along with his wife and an Afghan business partner.

The local branch of IS stated that China was a target due to its alleged crimes against the oppressed Uyghur Muslims. China has denied all allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

IS has previously claimed responsibility for an attack on a Chinese-owned hotel in Kabul in 2022, injuring multiple individuals. Recently, six Chinese nationals were also killed in Tajikistan, prompting Beijing to advise its citizens to leave the Tajik-Afghan border.