KABUL
\nBeijing said Tuesday it was \u201cshocked\u201d by a deadly attack on a Kabul hotel popular with Chinese business visitors, adding that five of its nationals were wounded. The Taliban claim to have improved security since storming back to power in August last year but there have been scores of bomb blasts and attacks, many like this one claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State group.
\n\u201cThis terror attack is abominable and China is deeply shocked,\u201d foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in Beijing.
\n\u201cAs far as we know, five Chinese citizens were injured in the terrorist attack, and several Afghan military and police were also killed.\u201d
\nThe Taliban\u2019s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, however, said Monday only three attackers were killed in the raid on the Kabul Longan Hotel. Two foreigners were hurt escaping from the building, he said.
\nMujahid told AFP Tuesday \u201ca few other\u201d injuries may have since been reported.
\nThe Italian non-governmental organisation Emergency NGO, which operates a hospital just one kilometre from the blast site, said Monday they had received 21 casualties, including three people dead on arrival. Taliban casualty figures following such incidents are usually lower than those reported by hospitals and other independent sources.
\nOn Tuesday, the hotel facade was blackened by fire that erupted during the attack and windows of the 10-storey building had also been blown out. \u201cI heard the sound of a loud explosion and shots. Of course everyone was scared,\u201d said a vendor in an adjacent street, asking not to be identified.
\nThe Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Monday\u2019s attack, issuing photos of two men it said were the perpetrators.
\nIt also claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing outside the Russian embassy in September that killed two staff, as well as an attack on Pakistan\u2019s mission this month that Islamabad decried as an assassination attempt against the ambassador.
\nNo country has recognised Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban government but China, Russia, and Pakistan are among a handful that have maintained their embassies in Kabul.
\n\u201cThis looks like (at least in part) a campaign to dent the efforts of the Taliban, IS-K\u2019s rival, to gain legitimacy both at home and abroad,\u201d tweeted Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center think tank.
\nChina, Pakistan, and Russia were expected to base decisions about international recognition on security rather than the Taliban\u2019s human rights record, he said.
\nChinese business visitors have flocked to the country since the Taliban\u2019s return in pursuit of high-risk but potentially lucrative business deals.
\nChina shares a rugged 76-kilometre (47-mile) border with Afghanistan and it has long feared Afghanistan could become a staging point for minority Uyghur separatists in China\u2019s sensitive border region of Xinjiang.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KABUL Beijing said Tuesday it was \u201cshocked\u201d by a deadly attack on a Kabul hotel popular with Chinese business visitors, adding that five of its nationals were wounded. The Taliban claim to have improved security since storming back to power in August last year but there have been scores of bomb blasts and attacks, many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-301051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n