Media reports said the 12-year-old boy had been dead on arrival. “Apparently a restaurant has been attacked”, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said, citing initial information.
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Friday’s explosion appeared to have hit Le Jardin, one of a small number of restaurants in Afghanistan’s capital still frequented by foreigners, acording to a police official. Le Jardin did not.
Afghan special forces have freed 59 prisoners from a Taliban jail in southern Helmand Province, officials said on January 2.
Shopkeeper Ahmed Massoud’s cousin, a guard at the Afghan-owned restaurant, was killed as the bomber detonated his suicide vest when he stopped to frisk him.
On January 11, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the USA and China are set to begin talks aimed at establishing a comprehensive roadmap for peace, according to officials.
The incident came about two years after a high-profile suicide attack on a Lebanese restaurant in the city killed 21 people, including 13 foreigners, four of whom were United Nations staff members. Gunfire was reported by residents and witnesses in the area, and is believed to have been a gunfight the Taliban announced on Twitter. Le Jardin restaurant, where the attack occurred, is popular among the city’s expatriate community and aid workers, besides Afghan officials. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility and said one of their suicide bombers had carried out the attack.
Gen. Sharif’s visit to Kabul follows talks between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over recent weeks that sought to pave the way for a Islamabad-brokered peace process.
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The militants have stepped up attacks across the country over the past year, following the formal end of the USA and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation combat mission.
