New Delhi, Jan. 20 -- An explosion at a restaurant in downtown Kabul on Monday killed at least seven people and wounded about a dozen more, according to police and an Italian charity running a surgical unit in the city.

Afghan authorities did not officially say what caused the blast, noting it was under investigation. But the president of neighboring Pakistan issued a statement attributing the explosion to a bomb.

The blast occurred in a Chinese restaurant in the Shahr-e-Naw district of the Afghan capital, according to Kabul police command spokesman Khalid Zadran. He said the restaurant was jointly owned by an Afghan man, a Chinese national and his wife.

The restaurant was popular with Chinese Muslims, Zadran said, adding that one Chin...