Deadly explosion near Australian embassy in Kabul

  • 03/03/2018
People gather at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul
People gather at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul. Photo credit: Reuters

No one has claimed responsibility for an explosion that went off near Australian embassy vehicles as they travelled in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul.

The suspected suicide car bomber struck on Friday, killing a civilian and wounding 14 bystanders, officials say, but there was no indication the Australians had been the target.

No Australians were injured in the attack, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

"The Australian government extends its sympathies to families and friends of people killed and injured by this attack," Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in the statement late on Friday.

"The attack again highlights the threat posed by terrorist and insurgent groups to the people of Afghanistan."

The attack came two days after President Ashraf Ghani offered to start peace talks with the Taliban, and just over a month after an ambulance packed with explosives was detonated in the city centre, killing about 100 people.

Much of the centre of Kabul is already a zone of concrete blast walls, razor wire and police checkpoints, but security has been tightened even further in the wake of the Jan. 27 ambulance attack and another attack on the city's Intercontinental Hotel earlier in the month.

Reuters