IS claims responsibility for deadly blast at Chinese-run restaurant which killed seven in Afghanistan
The Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), a branch of the terror group operating in Central Asia, says a suicide bomber deliberately targeted Chinese nationals in Kabul
The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for an explosion at a Chinese-run restaurant in central Kabul that has killed seven people and wounded at least a dozen more.
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The blast occurred in a Chinese restaurant in the Shahr-e-Naw district of the Afghan capital, according to Kabul police command spokesman Khalid Zadran.
The Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), a branch of the terrorist group operating in Central Asia, has said that a suicide bomber deliberately targeted Chinese nationals.
However, local security forces have disputed this, saying that the explosion was caused by a gas cylinder.
ISKP's propaganda outlet said that the terrorist waited for a large number of Chinese nationals to enter the establishment before detonating his bomb.
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Lucas Webber, a senior threat intelligence analyst at Tech Against Terrorism and senior research fellow at The Soufan Center, told LBC that the attack was not just aimed at harming Chinese nationals but also sending a political message to China.
"Today’s ISKP-claimed attack in Kabul targeting Chinese nationals underscores how Afghanistan has become a front line in the jihadist campaign against Beijing," he said.
"The operation appears calibrated not only to inflict casualties, but to send a political message: China’s growing presence in Afghanistan, and its partnership with the Taliban authorities, will come at a security cost.
"Given the target set, tactics, and timing, along with ISKP's rapid claim, Islamic State Khorasan Province is the clear perpetrator, fitting its established operational signature."
The police spokesperson said the restaurant was jointly owned by an Afghan man, a Chinese national and his wife, and was popular with Chinese Muslims.
He added that one Chinese national and six Afghans were killed and several others were wounded.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said two Chinese people had been seriously injured and a security guard killed in the blast.
Over the last decade, IS and ISKP have deliberately targeted Chinese nationals and the country's interests in several attacks as part of a broader anti-China campaign, which also serves to undermine Taliban claims of protection for foreign diplomats and investment.
The Islamic State claims to be the protector of Uyghur Muslims, who come from Xinjiang or 'East Turkistan' province, against alleged abuses by China which Mr Webber says the group views as a key oppressor of Muslims.
He told LBC: "IS propaganda has portrayed Xinjiang as future caliphate territory and called explicitly for the 'reconquest' of East Turkistan, elevating China from a secondary antagonist to a central enemy in its worldview.
"Over time, this narrative has expanded beyond Xinjiang to depict China as a rising imperial power whose global reach must be resisted."
The terror organisation also frames these attacks as a fight against "economic colonialism", as it accuses "China of exploiting Muslim-majority states for resources" through programmes such as the Belt and Road initiative, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and other infrastructure deals with Afghanistan.
It has also explicitly urged its followers to attack Chinese workers, diplomats, and infrastructure.
Mr Webber said: "Previous incidents, from the 2017 killing of Chinese teachers in Quetta, Pakistan, to the January 2022 bombing near Kabul’s Foreign Ministry, the December 2022 Longan Hotel assault, and the January 2025 killing of a Chinese mining worker in Takhar, show a clear pattern: ISKP seeks to hit locations where Chinese economic interests intersect with fragile security environments, and today’s attack follows that trajectory."
The ISKP claims that "several Chinese nationals and their guards" were killed in the attack, as well as Taliban members guarding the area.
Italian medical charity Emergency said its surgical centre in Kabul had received 20 people from the blast, including seven who were already dead when they arrived.