Deadly blast kills at least seven in Kabul, says Italian NGO

A deadly explosion hit a central Kabul hotel on Monday (January 19, 2026), city police and the Afghan government said, and an AFP journalist saw firefighters near the scene.

“Twenty people have been received at EMERGENCY’s Surgical Centre in Kabul following an explosion this afternoon in the Shahr-e-Naw area, near the hospital. Among those received were seven people dead on arrival,” the NGO said in a statement.

“An explosion occurred in a hotel on Gulfaroshi Street in Shahr-e-Naw, the fourth district of Kabul city, causing casualties,” Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said without detailing the cause.

Abdul Mateen Qani, the Interior Ministry spokesman, told AFP: “We do have casualties, both wounded and killed”.