Three Spanish tourists and an Afghan tourist were killed by a gunman in central Afghanistan on Friday, Taliban officials said, in the first deadly attacks on tourists in the country since the Taliban seized power in 2021.
Four other foreigners and three Afghans were also wounded in shootings in Bamiyan province. Bamyan Province, northwest of the capital Kabul, is a peaceful expanse of valleys, lakes and ancient ruins.
Witnesses said the shooting occurred around 5:30 p.m. when at least one gunman opened fire on the group of tourists as they left a market in the provincial capital. Bamiyan provincial information chief Safiullah Reyed said the deceased was a Spanish citizen.
Four people were arrested in connection with the attack, officials said. No organization has claimed responsibility yet.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said the government “strongly condemns the accident, expresses deep condolences to the families of the victims and assures that all culprits will be found and punished”. say on X.
The attack comes as Taliban authorities try to attract foreign tourists to Afghanistan, hoping to boost the country’s economy and reshape the government’s image on the international stage. Western officials have slammed the restrictions on women by the Taliban, whose government has not been officially recognized by any country nearly three years since it seized power.
Last month, Taliban officials opened a government-backed tourism and hotel agency to build the country’s tourism infrastructure. They have also sought to reassure tourism agencies that the country is safe for foreigners, despite the continued threat posed by the regional affiliate of Islamic State, which has launched sporadic attacks in Afghanistan in recent years and sought to destabilize the government.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Afghanistan was part of the so-called “hippie trail” overland across Asia. Foreigners are attracted to the country’s rich natural landscape, centuries-old mosques and ancient ruins. Bamiyan, where Friday’s shooting took place, is home to giant 1,500-year-old Buddha statues carved into the cliffside that were mostly destroyed in 2001 when the Taliban’s first government took power. The province is also home to the country’s first national park, Band-e-Amir, a vast expanse of rugged mountains and deep blue lakes.
Afghanistan’s tourism industry shrank after the 1979 Soviet invasion and subsequent decades of violence.but After the U.S.-led war ended in 2021 and the country returned to relative calm, so did some foreign tourists.
According to the Taliban Tourism Bureau in Kabul, nearly 700 foreign tourists visited the country in 2021. That number will rise to about 2,300 by 2022, up from about 7,000 last year.
Friday’s deadly attack threatens to deal a setback to the government’s tourism efforts. “This incident may scare other tourists who want to visit Afghanistan,” said Mohammad Saeed, director of Kabul Tourism.
