Powerful car bomb blast shakes Afghan Defense Minister Bismillah Mohammadi’s neighborhood in Kabul

Kabul: A powerful car bomb explosion rocked the center of the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, just meters from the residence of Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi.

Security forces immediately arrived at the scene of the car bomb attack near the house of the Minister of Defense in Kabul. Sporadic gunfire was also heard by eyewitnesses in the area.

The explosion took place near the diplomatic quarters and the market square which house several government buildings, including the Presidential Palace, as well as a number of embassies and offices of international media and humanitarian agencies.

No terrorist group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

“The car bomb attack targeted a guesthouse owned by the Acting Defense Minister Bismillah Mohammadi, who was not there when the explosion occurred. No one was injured in the attack ”, News from TOLO sources cited as saying.

Mohammadi has been appointed interim defense minister of Afghanistan in place of Asadullah Khalid, who recently returned to the war-torn country after a long illness, according to Reuters.

Mohammadi, a senior commander of the late Afghan anti-Soviet resistance icon Ahmad Shah Massoud, had a long military career before becoming Minister of the Interior, Minister of Defense and Chief of Staff of the former president Hamid Karzai.

Clashes between Afghan security forces and the Taliban have intensified in recent times, with the insurgent terrorist group taking control of several checkpoints and trading posts.