Australian injured in deadly Afghanistan attack that killed four others is identified as Joe McDowell
An Australian man injured in a deadly attack on foreign tourists in Afghanistan has been identified.
Joe McDowell, believed to be from Perth, was injured on Friday evening when several gunmen opened fire outside a restaurant in the central province of Bamyan.
The attack, believed to have been carried out by Islamic State militants, claimed the lives of three Spanish tourists and an Afghan.
Jibra’il Omar, an Australian academic formerly known as Timothy Weeks, posted a photo of Mr McDowell smiling from his hospital bed on social media platform X.
“Today I visited my brother, Joe McDowell, who is currently in Kabul,” he wrote.
Joe McDowell (pictured right), believed to be from Perth, was injured on Friday evening when several gunmen opened fire outside a restaurant in the central province of Bamyan.
Four people have been arrested after the shooting in Bamyan City, central Afghanistan (Photo: An Afghan security force member checks a vehicle after the shooting)
“He expressed his gratitude to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan for their support.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the tourists who died in the tragic attack in Bamyan.”
Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani confirmed that three foreigners and one Afghan were killed.
“Security forces have started finding the killers, and four people have been arrested in this case so far,” Mr Qani added.
Another four foreigners and three Afghans were injured, he added.
The injured are said to come from Australia, Lithuania, Norway and Spain.
Bamyan is a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for two giant Buddhist statues destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.
Tourism to the region has increased since the Taliban came to power in 2022.
Last May, the Kabul Times reported that as many as 265 foreign tourists from countries including Italy, the US, China, Spain, England and Russia had visited the site in a two-month period.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X: ‘Overwhelmed by the news of the murder of Spanish tourists in Afghanistan.’
Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani (pictured) confirmed that three foreigners and one Afghan were killed
Bamyan City (pictured) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is known for the two giant Buddhist statues destroyed by the Taliban in 2001
Graphic footage of the aftermath of the attack shows men loading bloodied corpses into an ambulance.
The European Union’s diplomatic service issued a statement condemning the attack in the “strongest terms.”
“We condemn in the strongest terms the armed attack on a group of foreign tourists visiting Bamyan, Afghanistan,” the statement read.
“Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims who lost their lives and those injured in the attack.”
The Taliban, an authoritarian Islamist regime, took control of Afghanistan after the US withdrew from the country in 2021 after two decades of counterinsurgency warfare.
Australia has no formal diplomatic ties with the new government.
A Foreign Office spokesperson previously confirmed to NewsWire that the department was “providing consular assistance to an Australian man in Afghanistan.”