At least three people killed and 18 wounded in blast near US embassy and ISAF headquarters.

by Al Jazeera

An explosion in the diplomatic district of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul has killed three people and wounded 18, according to the Afghan Ministry of Public Health.

The blast took place near the US embassy and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters, witnesses said.

There was no immediate confirmation of what caused the blast on Saturday afternoon, but Afghan users on Twitter said alarms could be heard ringing in the area.

There have been a number of attacks in the city within the past month.

At least four people were killed at Kabul airport on August 10 and dozens of civilians were killed in multiple suicide attacks a week earlier.

The blast happened in front of Shenozada Clinic not A. Haq Sq. pic.twitter.com/LD5tHSWw3F

— Karim Haidari (@FkHaidari) August 22, 2015

At least four dead in blast, officials say, after scores were killed in recent attacks in the Afghan capital.

Kabul was already on high alert before the blast after last week’s attacks which killed at least 50 civilians [Reuters]

A large explosion has hit the entrance to Kabul airport, killing at least five people and wounding many more, according to Afghan officials.

Sources told Al Jazeera that a car bomb was used in the attack, which took place at the civilian entrance of the main airport in the capital on Monday.

Five civilians were killed and 17 people wounded, including a woman and a child, said Wahidullah Mayar, a spokesman for the public health ministry.

The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the airport blast.

#KabulAirport update photos, #kabul #AFG pic.twitter.com/qGTyG3DQ0O

— KabulUpdates (@KabulTraffic) August 10, 2015

The tangled, flaming wreckage of one of the cars lay on its side, as dozens of firefighters and police gathered.

Kabul was already on high alert before the blast after last week’s attacks which killed at least 50 civilians and security forces personnel in the worst violence seen in the city in years.

The wave of violence comes days after a change of leadership in the Afghan Taliban, who announced the death of their founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, late last month and named Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Mansour as their new leader.

However his swift appointment by a small council of leaders in the Pakistani city of Quetta has angered others in the group, causing rifts within the movement and adding to speculation that the latest wave of violence is linked to the leadership dispute.

The blast struck near the entrance of Kabul’s international airport during the peak lunchtime period [AFP]

At least 15 killed and hundreds injured after truck bomb explodes near military base in the city’s District 8.

Cars parked on roads in the vicinity of the blast were damaged for at least 100 metres, a witness said [AFP]

A truck bomb has killed at least 15 people and injured about 400 more in central Kabul, near an Afghan army base in the city’s District 8, police sources have told Al Jazeera.

The explosion occurred early on Friday morning, rattling nearby homes.

“Moments ago there was a car bomb in the Shah Shahid area. Civilian casualties are feared,” Deputy Interior Minister General Mohammad Ayub Salangi wrote on Twitter.

Al Jazeera’s Qais Azimy, reporting from Kabul, said: “The police suspect that the [casualty] numbers will go higher,” he said, adding that sources said that the target of the attack had been an Afghan military base.

“A truck bomb detonated close to an army compound,” Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told the Reuters news agency.

Officials said 400 people had been wounded in the blast.

Dozens of the wounded were hurt by debris and glass shattering in the heavily populated area. Cars parked on roads in the vicinity of the blast were damaged for at least 100 metres, a witness said.

Al Jazeera’s Jennifer Glasse, reporting from Kabul, said the explosion was heard from miles around the city in the middle of the night.

“Those injured and killed were hurt by flying glass as windows shattered, buildings collapsed – the damage was very significant from this explosion,” Glasse said.

A local hospital official said their facility had been flooded with patients, including many women and children. Most were arriving on foot, the official said, and were being treated for superficial injuries.

The explosion follows a number of attacks carried out in Kabul over the past two months, all claimed by the Taliban.

A Taliban suicide bomber struck a military convoy on July 7, injuring nearby civilians.

The attack followed a Taliban car bomb attack on NATO soldiers in late June, which killed two Afghan civilians and injured 26 others, including women and children.

On June 22, the armed group launched an attack on Afghanistan’s parliament, killing five people and losing seven of its own members.

The Taliban launched its annual spring offensive in April.

A surge in attacks has taken a heavy toll on civilians, according to the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan.

In the first four months of 2015, civilian casualties jumped 16 percent from the same period last year, it said.

Taliban gunmen clash with government troops, hours after suicide bomber rams foreign convoy.

Police officers told Al Jazeera that an armoured vehicle carrying non-uniformed international advisers was targeted [AFP]

Gunfire and explosions have been reported in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, hours after a Taliban suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy belonging to foreign forces, security officials said.

Al Jazeera journalists in Kabul reported that the attack took place at a compound in Kabul’s District Eight, and gunmen had taken up positions within it.

Gunfire at the scene of the explosion was ongoing, and the Afghan government had deployed specialist troops to end the clashes.

Earlier, police officials told Al Jazeera that at least three Afghan civilians were wounded in the Shah Shaheed district of Kabul when, also in the city’s east, a Taliban fighter drove a car bomb in to a NATO convoy.

Al Jazeera’s Jennifer Glasse, reporting from Kabul, said the first attack, which was claimed by the Taliban, took place a few kilometres east of the centre of the city and plumes of smoke could be seen after the attack.

“Police told us that the target was a convoy, a car carrying international advisers who were not in military uniform, an armoured car,” Glasse said.

The attack follows a car bomb attack on NATO soldiers last week, which killed two Afghan civilians and injured 26 others, including women and children.

NATO said none of its troops were killed or injured in last week’s attack, which was also claimed by the Taliban.

A fortnight earlier, the armed group launched an attack on Afghanistan’s parliament, killing five people and losing another seven of its own members.

The Taliban launched its annual spring offensive in April.

A surge in attacks has taken a heavy toll on civilians, according to the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan.

In the first four months of 2015, civilian casualties jumped 16 percent from the same period last year, it said.