A powerful blast followed by gunfire struck Afghanistan’s capital on Tuesday evening near the “Green Zone,” where government buildings, residences and foreign embassies are housed.
A senior security official told Reuters that the blast appeared to have been cause by a car bomb.
The official said the resident of a member of parliament appeared to be the target of the attack.
No militant group immediately claimed responsibility.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, however, three Taliban leaders told NBC that the fundamentalist Islamist group was behind the attack.
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The intended target, they said, was the residence of Afghanistan Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi.
The three Taliban leaders said the attack was a response to recent airstrikes on their positions in Afghanistan.
The Taliban has yet to issue any official statement on the incident, however.
The city’s Emergency Hospital tweeted out that it had so far seen six patients wounded in the attack.
It is still unclear whether there have been any fatalities.
It comes amid growing clashes between Afghan forces and the Taliban, with the military group taking control over checkpoints and infrastructure projects.
The Taliban have been advancing in Afghanistan in recent weeks following the withdrawal of American and NATO troops.
Recently, the group said they had captured over half of all Afghanistan’s territory, including border crossings with Iran and Pakistan.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
