At least five people are dead and 42 injured in a suicide blast in central Kabul near a block of government buildings on Tuesday.
The blast took place near a busy shopping district in Kabul on Tuesday and is believed to have occurred inside a car in the car park of the Justice Ministry, which is close to one of Kabul's busiest commercial areas, Afghanistan government sources said.
The car was parked 10 blocks from the Serena hotel, where an international contact group for Afghanistan was holding a meeting. At the meeting were 50 ambassadors of Afghanistan and Pakistan and several Indians, all of whom are safe
Ambulances and police cars were taking wounded people to hospital. Windows in buildings surrounding the Justice Ministry have been shattered, say early reports. The blast was also strong enough to rattle windows several kilometres away in Kabul's diplomatic district.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.
Just two days ago, on Sunday, a suicide car bomber rammed a European Union vehicle near the main airport in Kabul, killing at least three people. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
Then, last week, the Indian ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha had a miraculous escape when he dropped out from attending a concert for expats in a Kabul hotel that was attacked by Taliban. The attack on Wednesday night left 14 people dead, four among them Indians.
Image: Smoke emanates from the site of the bomb blast at Kabul. Photograph: @SMasudAlam/Twitter
