An explosion near the Foreign Ministry in the Afghan capital on Wednesday killed five people and wounded several others, a Taliban police spokesman said, the second prominent attack in Kabul so far in 2023.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province has increased its assaults since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
The mid-afternoon explosion was followed by peals of sirens.
Taliban security forces prevented journalists from getting close to the site, threatening them with guns and telling them to leave.
Kabul police chief spokesman Khalid Zadran said security teams have been deployed to the site.
Later he said that as the result of the explosion, “five of our civilians were killed and a number of others were wounded.”
Zadran offered no other details on the source of the blast or say how many people were wounded. agencies