By Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Charlotte Greenfield
KABUL (Reuters) -Three foreign tourists and one Afghan citizen were killed by gunmen in Afghanistan’s central Bamyan province on Friday, the Taliban interior ministry said.
Four foreign nationals and three Afghans were also injured in the attack when gunmen opened fire, said interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qaniee. Four people have been arrested, he said.
The nationality of the tourists and identity of the attackers was not immediately clear.
Mountainous Bamyan is home to a UNESCO world heritage site and the remains of two giant Buddha statues which were blown up by the Taliban during their previous rule in 2001.
Since taking over Afghanistan in 2021 the Taliban have vowed to restore security and encourage a small but growing number of tourists trickling into the country and sell tickets to access the Buddha statues.
Friday’s attack was among the most serious targeting foreign citizens since foreign forces left and the Taliban took over in 2021.
The Islamic State claimed an attack that injured Chinese citizens at a hotel popular with Chinese businessmen in Kabul in 2022.
(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul and Charlotte Greenfield in Delhi; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Richard Chang)
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