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DEVELOPING HISTORY
The explosion appears to have been caused by a car bomb, according to a senior security official.
A powerful explosion followed by sporadic gunfire hit the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday near the city’s heavily fortified “green zone”, an area housing government buildings and foreign embassies, officials said.
A senior security official said the explosion appeared to have been caused by a car bomb and the apparent target was the residence of a member of parliament.
The explosion occurred near the home of the country’s defense minister, Bismillah Mohammadi. In a tweet, the minister said he was “fine”.
Two armed men were still in the area and clashed with Afghan security forces, the official said.
The city’s emergency hospital said in a tweet that it had so far received six people injured in the attack.
No group immediately claimed responsibility.
James Bay of Al Jazeera, reporting from Kabul, said the attack in the heart of the city raised serious questions about Kabul’s security.
“The center of Kabul has what is called the ‘steel ring’, there are also all kinds of checkpoints. There is a checkpoint near the scene of the explosion. Bay said.
The explosion, which struck just after 8 p.m. local time, came as families and young people gathered at local restaurants and cafes. In a restaurant, customers could be seen escaping through the windows, leaving behind tables full of shisha, backgammon tables, and uneaten food.
The main roads of the city’s commercial center, Shahr-e Naw, were full of vehicles as people tried to flee the area. Usually overcrowded, businesses were either abandoned or left with only a handful of customers.
Within minutes of the explosion, hundreds of civilians in Kabul took to the streets and chanted “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest) to express their support for the Afghan government forces and their opposition to the Taliban.
Clashes between Afghan forces and the Taliban have intensified across the country since early May, with the Taliban enjoying the final stages of the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces after nearly 20 years in the country.
The Taliban have taken control of checkpoints, trading posts and infrastructure projects.
Al Jazeera’s Bays said Defense Minister Mohammadi, the apparent target of the attack, had only recently taken office and was a veteran commander and former army chief of staff .
“His time as a commander dates back to well before the last 20 years, when international forces arrived in Afghanistan. He was a commander with Ahmad Shah Massoud fighting the Taliban in the 1990s and before that he was a Mujahedin commander fighting the Soviet Union.
Additional reporting by Ali M Latifi in Kabul.
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