Large blast hits Kabul’s diplomatic district, U.S. embassy sounds alarm

A suicide bomber blew himself up in Kabul's diplomatic district on Wednesday, killing two people, an Afghan government official said.

The blast was heard at the diplomatic district where U.S. and British embassies and the headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are located.

The blast prompted the United States embassy to sound its “duck and cover” alarm.

Embassy sirens sounded and ambulances could be heard after the attack.

"It was a suicide attack. Two people were killed, one a private security guard, another a civilian," an Interior Ministry spokesman told AFP news agency. Another civilian was wounded, he said.

Hashmatullah Stanikzai, a spokesman for Kabul Police told Reuters that at “around 8 o’clock today there appeared to be a suicide bomb attack ... We cannot say what the target was at this point in time.”

A spokesman for NATO’s international Security Assistance Force (ISAF) told AFP: “We are aware that there was an explosion but we have no further information.”