Kabul, In a terrible incident, on Monday, a car bomb hit the centre of Kabul, an attack occurred after hours when a Taliban suicide attack near the Defence Ministry killed at least 24 people including a number of senior security officials and injured 91 others.

Security forces blocked off a large area in the city centre and the gunmen who followed the initial attack appeared to have barricaded themselves into a building.

Sporadic gunfire and explosions could be heard after several hours of quite overnight as as day broke but there was no immediate comment on the operation from police and no claim of responsibility.

"When the first explosion happened people crowded to the site and then the second blast occurred, which was really powerful and killed lots of people," said Samiullah Safi, who witnessed the attack.

“An army general and two senior police commanders were among the dead,” a Defence Ministry official said.

Another official said “the deputy head of President Ashraf Ghani's personal protection force had also been killed.”