Explosion in Kabul near Afghan national parliament: Police

Mohammad Mohaqiq, a prominent Hazara politician, escaped unscathed in the attack.

KABUL: An explosion on Tuesday morning rocked an area in the west of the Afghan capital, Kabul, close to the country's national parliament killed three people and injured 24 others, police said.

The explosion occurred soon after 9am local time in an area called Karta-e Seh, a Kabul police source said, and came as hundreds of local and international officials gathered on Kabul's outskirts ahead of a ceremony to mark the beginning of the final phase of security transition to Afghan forces across the nation.

Mohammad Mohaqiq, a prominent Hazara politician, escaped
unscathed from the attack but three people were killed and 21
wounded, a government official said.

"Four of my guards are wounded and are in hospital," Mohaqiq told AFP. "I heard a big explosion on the side of the car. Only my cloak is a little burned, other than that I'm fine."

Mohammad Zahir, the police investigations chief in Kabul, told reporters at the scene that three civilians were killed and 24 others, including some guards, were wounded when the improvised explosive device detonated.

On Tuesday last week, a suicide car bomb killed 15 civilians outside the Supreme Court in Kabul. The previous day, gunmen fired grenades at the city airport.