Afghanistan shooting injures Australian man Joe McDowell, who remains in hospital

An Australian man injured in a shooting that killed six people in Afghanistan is in hospital, according to social media posts by an Australian academic and a local crime authority.

Gunmen opened fire in a market in Bamiyan on Saturday (AEST), killing three Spanish tourists and three Afghans, the Taliban and Spanish governments said.

Australian man Joe McDowell was among the wounded taken to Kabul for treatment, said Jibra’il Omar, an Australian academic formerly known as Timothy Weeks who was held previously held hostage by the Taliban.

Omar posted a photo with McDowell in hospital on X, first reported by the ABC.

“Today I visited my Australian brother, Joe McDowell, who is well and now in Kabul,” Omar wrote.

“He expressed his thanks to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan for their support. May Allah give comfort to the families of those who died in the barbaric attack in Bamiyan.”

Former head of Afghanistan’s police criminal investigation unit, Besmillah Taban, posted a similar photo on X and said McDowell’s condition was improving.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it was providing consular assistance to an Australian in Afghanistan but it declined to provide further information owing to privacy obligations.

Seven suspects were arrested at the scene in Bamiyan province, a major tourist area, and an investigation was under way, said Abdul Mateen Qani, a spokesman for the interior minister.