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Powerful car bomb blast hits near Kabul airport

Iran Press TV

Mon Jan 4, 2016 5:23PM

A car bomb attack has hit an area near the airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, just hours after a bomber detonated his explosives in the city.

Afghan police officials said the explosion, which appeared to target a compound for foreign contractors, took place close to the Kabul International Airport on Monday evening.

The blast blew out window panes of homes and was felt across downtown Kabul.

There were no immediate reports of casualties and the extent of damage caused, but the Emergency Hospital in Kabul said on Twitter that it was currently receiving victims at its surgical center.

This came after a bomber blew himself up in a street leading to the airport in Kabul.

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said a convoy of foreign troops passing through the area was the target of the first bombing attack.

This is while Afghan forces are still attempting to end a protracted siege near the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which began on Sunday night.

Afghan commandos are battling to flush out militants holed up in a building near the consulate.

Taliban militants have intensified attacks on government forces and foreign targets across Kabul and several other major cities across Afghanistan.

On January 1, a loud deadly explosion rocked a French restaurant popular with Afghan officials and foreign diplomats in central Kabul, killing at least two people and wounding 15 others.

The spike in violence coincides with a renewed push to revive peace talks with the Taliban militants.

Officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are due to meet in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on January 11 in an attempt to revive a stalled peace process. The planned talks will be followed by another meeting in Kabul.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has expressed readiness to attend Pakistan-brokered talks with Taliban on the condition that the militants give up terrorism.

Afghanistan is still gripped by insecurity 14 years after the US and its allies attacked the country as part of Washington's so-called war on terror. Although the 2001 attack overthrew the Taliban, many areas across Afghanistan still face violence and insecurity.