Afghanistan Peace CampaignExplosion occurs in downtown Shahr-e-Naw neighbourhood, thought to be one of the most secure areas of Kabul.
The restaurant hit by the blast on Monday is in the commercial Shahr-e-Naw neighbourhood of Kabul that includes office buildings, shopping complexes and embassies, police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said. The district is considered one of the safest in the city.
One Chinese national, identified as Ayub, and six Afghans were killed in the blast, which occurred near the kitchen, while several others were injured, Zadran added.
Videos shared on social media showed debris scattered on the street outside and smoke spewing from a large hole torn into the front of the restaurant building.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and there was no immediate word on the cause of the explosion. Authorities said they were investigating.
The Italian NGO Emergency said a medical facility it oversees in Kabul had received 20 people from the blast, seven of whom were dead when they arrived. The organisation said the casualty figures were “still provisional”.
“Twenty people have been received at EMERGENCY’s Surgical Centre in Kabul following an explosion this afternoon in the Shahr-e-Naw area, near the hospital. Among those received were seven people dead on arrival,” the NGO said in a statement.
It added that four women and a child were among the wounded.
Blasts in Kabul and across Afghanistan have been rarer since the Taliban returned to power after the United States withdrawal in 2021, but ISIL (ISIS) affiliates are still active in the country and carry out sporadic attacks.