An Australian tourist is among several injured after a deadly shooting in central Afghanistan.
At least six people were killed, including three Spanish citizens and three Afghans when gunmen opened fire late on Friday local time in the province of Bamyan.
Taliban officials earlier reported four people were killed.
An official in Bamyan who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that four foreign nationals from Spain, Norway, Australia and Latvia were injured in the attack.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) confirmed it was providing consular assistance to an Australian in Afghanistan.
“Owing to our privacy obligations we cannot provide further comment,” a DFAT spokesperson said.
Earlier, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that three Spaniards had died in the attack and at least one more had been injured.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described them as “tourists” in a post on X, formerly Twitter, writing that he was “overwhelmed” by the news.
Seven suspects were arrested at the scene in Bamyan province, a major tourist area, and an investigation was underway.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the late-evening attack.
According to Abdul Mateen Qani, a spokesman for the Taliban’s interior ministry, seven other people, including foreign nationals were wounded in the attack.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO forces were in the final weeks of their withdrawal from the country after 20 years of war.
Blame is likely to fall on the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan, a major Taliban rival.
IS militants have carried out scores of attacks on schools, hospitals, mosques and minority Shiite areas throughout the country.
Bamyan is probably best known as the site of two massive Buddha statues that were carved into the cliff face between the 4th and 6th centuries and which were destroyed by the Taliban at al-Qaida’s urging in early 2001.
