A Chinese businessman has said that over a dozen Chinese citizens were wounded, five of them seriously, in the attack on the Longan Hotel in Kabul. He detailed that over 30 Chinese citizens were in the hotel when fighters of the Islamic State – Khurasan Province (ISKP) attacked it.
“Five of them are in the ICU in Emergency Hospital, around 13 to 14 are superficially wounded,” Reuters quoted Yu Ming Hui, the Chinese businessman who heads the China Town business complex in Kabul, as saying.
Meanwhile, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin confirmed in a regular news briefing on Tuesday, December 13, that five Chinese nationals were wounded in the attack.
Moreover, the Chinese official has called on the Taliban authorities to open a “comprehensive investigation” into the attack on the hotel which has been opened by a Chinese investor earlier this year in downtown Kabul.
“China demands the Afghan side spare no efforts in searching for and rescuing Chinese individuals, and at the same time open a comprehensive investigation, severely punish the attackers, and earnestly strengthen the protection of Chinese citizens and organizations in Afghanistan,” Reuters quoted Wang as saying at the news briefing.
The country’s foreign ministry also recommended that Chinese nationals and organizations leave Afghanistan as soon as possible.
Attack Lasted for Hours
At least three people were killed and 18 others wounded, according to Kabul Emergency Hospital, in the attack targeting the Chinese Longan Hotel which is frequented by Chinese citizens and other foreigners.
The ISKP claimed responsibility for the Monday’s attack.
In a video posted on its Telegram channel, the ISKP filmed two of its fighters claiming that they have carried out the attack on the hotel “frequented by Chinese diplomats and businessmen” in Kabul.
The ISKP detailed that its fighters detonated explosives among Chinese guests at a party and in the hotel’s reception hall.
The attack started around 02:30 PM local time on Monday, December 12, and lasted nearly five hours.
Three hours into the attack, Kabul Emergency Hospital confirmed in a tweet that it received 21 casualties – three already dead on arrival – from the hotel attack.
Almost five hours later, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, wrote on his Twitter account that the attack ended after Taliban security forces killed “3 attackers.”
He added that all guests in the hotel were rescued and no foreign national was killed in the attack.
Mujahid, however, confirmed that two Chinese citizens were “slightly injured” as they escaped jumping from the hotel’s balcony.
Chinese Investor Runs the Hotel
In a documentary released on November 24, Aljazeera reveals that the Longan Hotel is owned and opened by a Chinese investor named Zhang Mingkuan. The Chinese investor has invested “almost half a million dollars” and opened the hotel only two weeks after he came to Afghanistan in January 2022.
ISKP attacked the Chinese hotel just a day after China’s ambassador Wang Yu met with the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai.
At the meeting, the Chinese ambassador called on the ruling group to “pay more attention” to the security of China’s Embassy in Kabul.
After the attack started, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency confirmed that the attack happened near a Chinese guest house and its embassy was closely monitoring the situation.
The embassy, however, has not provided any official updates regarding the attack from its side so far.
