In what would be its first attack of the new year, a Taliban suicide auto bomber targeted a popular French restaurant Friday in Kabul, Afghanistan, the New York Times reported.
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The Taliban claimed in a statement that “dozens of foreigners” had been killed or wounded, although the group often exaggerates casualty figures in attacks on foreign or government targets.
Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, says security forces are at the site of the explosion and that police are investigating.
He later said they had arrested one suspect but did not elaborate.
The Afghan army launched a special operation in the country’s Helmand province and set free 59 people from a Taliban prison, sources said on Saturday.
Le Jardin has tighter security than many establishments catering to expats.
In August, the US Embassy in Afghanistan warned of possible Taliban attacks in Taimani on “several targets frequented by foreigners”.
The attack, for which the Taliban claimed responsibility, targeted Le Jardin, which is owned by the governor of Kabul, a former official in the administration of former President Hamid Karzai. In January 2014, a Lebanese restaurant popular with foreigners came under ferocious attack and 21 people were killed.
Then, desperate customers tried to hide under tables as one attacker detonated his suicide vest at the fortified entrance to the eatery and two other militants stormed inside and opened fire.
The powerful explosion tore through a quiet residential neighborhood and rained smoldering vehicle parts down on houses a block away.
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Representatives from Afghanistan, the United States, Pakistan and China will meet on January 11 in Islamabad, Pakistan, to work out a framework for peace negotiations.
