Kabul Police Chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi has confirmed a car bomb was detonated outside Parliament on Monday morning in a complex attack that is still ongoing.
A number of explosions followed the car bomb blast and resulted in the immediate evacuation of MPs and journalists from the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament).
The incident took place at about 10.20 am as the second vice president Mohammad Sarwar Danish was about to introduce the minister of defense nominee to MPs for a vote of confidence.
Within half an hour at least nine explosions had been heard along with sporadic gunfire.
Saleha Sadat, TOLOnews journalist, who was inside parliament at the time of the blasts, said all MPs and journalists had been moved to safety and that no serious injuries were reported. A few MPs did however sustain shrapnel injuries.
The Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said security forces were deployed to the area to try to bring the situation under control.
TOLOnews reporters reporting from the scene said that a number of gunmen were in a building next to parliament and firing on security personnel.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, in his Twitter claimed responsibility for the attack.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/3878