At least three killed in blast at hotel in Afghanistan’s Khost

At least three people have been killed and seven others wounded after an explosion ripped through a hotel in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Khost on Monday, police said.

The blast occurred at a city hotel frequented by Afghan people and people originally from Pakistan’s North Waziristan province, which borders Afghanistan, Mustaghfir Gurbaz, a police spokesperson in Khost said on Monday.

He said officers were investigating to determine what caused the blast and who was behind it.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, though Afghanistan’s Taliban government has blamed the regional affiliate of ISIL (ISIS) – known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province – for previous attacks.

Gurbaz provided no information about the Pakistani refugees staying at the hotel.

Authorities in Pakistan have said members of the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, are hiding in Khost and elsewhere in Afghanistan.

TTP is a separate group but is a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

The Taliban have said they are focused on securing Afghanistan and have carried out several raids against ISIL cells in recent months.

More than 1,000 Afghan civilians have been killed in bombings and other violence since US and NATO forces left Afghanistan in 2021 and the Taliban took over, according to the United Nations.