4 killed, including 3 foreigners, in Afghanistan shooting: government

Three foreigners and an Afghan were killed on Friday in a shooting in Bamiyan province in central Afghanistan, the interior ministry said.

"One Afghan and three foreign nationals were killed," in gunfire Friday evening in Bamiyan city, interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani, told AFP.

Another four foreigners and three Afghans were wounded, he added, without giving the nationalities of the foreign victims.

Security forces have arrested four suspects, he said.

Qani did not say if there were multiple shooters that fired on the civilians.

A local resident, who did not want to be named, said he "heard the sounds of successive gunshots, and the city streets leading to the site were blocked immediately by the security forces".

It was unclear whether the foreigners were tourists.

Bamiyan, home to the giant Buddhas blown up by the Taliban in 2001, is Afghanistan's top tourist destination.

Deadly attacks on foreigners have been rare in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

The Taliban government "strongly condemns this crime, expresses its deep feelings to the families of the victims and assures that all the criminals will be found and punished", Qani said in a statement.