On Monday, an explosion at a hotel in the eastern Afghanistan city of Khost, close to the Pakistani border, left three people dead and seven others injured, according to local authorities.
An explosion that occurred at a hotel in the heart of Khost at around 11:00 am (0630 GMT) was being investigated by security officials, according to a statement from a police spokeswoman.
According to the official, the seven injured were transferred to a hospital, and the three people killed were civilians.
According to him, both civilians from Afghanistan and those who had escaped violence in Pakistan were killed.
When reached by AFP, the police spokesman declined to give any additional information regarding the explosion. By late afternoon, it was still unclear if it was an accident or an attack.
Shops around the explosion, according to an AFP photographer, were damaged, although access to the scene was restricted.
Since the Taliban overthrew the US-backed government and put an end to their two-decade insurgency in August 2021, there has been a decrease in violence throughout Afghanistan, while the Islamic State organization continues to pose a threat.
Since the Taliban took control, Pakistan has also seen a sharp increase in militant assaults targeted at its western border regions, which have been claimed by both IS and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an associate of the Afghan Taliban.
Thousands of people fled to Afghanistan as a result of Pakistani military operations in the Khost province, which borders areas of Pakistan known as longtime safe havens for militants.