Taliban Bombs Kabul on the First Day of the Year, Killing Two

Residents in a house two blocks from the attack described a heavy blast that left several of their windows shattered on a night when temperatures were forecast to dip near freezing.

A bomb was detonated at a popular restaurant often frequented by foreigners in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

The visit of the Pakistani army chief was important as the two sides had also agreed on action against those Taliban who refuse to join the peace process.

A suspect was arrested during the police search of the area after the explosion, Sediqqi told CNN.

The Taliban militant group has yet to make comments.

However the Taliban, which is struggling to contain bloody factional fighting over the leadership succession, has so far refused to take part while foreign forces remain in Afghanistan.

The standoff in the northern Balkh province began on Sunday night when the attackers first tried to storm the consulate, and then made their way into the adjacent building.

Thomson ReutersAfghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani speaks during a news conference in Kabul, AfghanistanKABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said global meetings next month to lay the groundwork for a possible resumption of peace talks with the Taliban had to seek an approach to the fractured insurgent movement that ensured a rejection of terrorism.

In the wake of that and other attacks, many restaurants closed. “If Le Jardin’s owner was here I would grab him by his collar and demand an answer”.

The powerful explosion shook the Qala-e Fatullah neighborhood and sprayed debris for the length of a football field. When he ran outside to see what had happened, Hazara said, he saw an old man with shrapnel in his hand.

Firefighters spray water to clean the site of a suicide vehicle bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, December 28, 2015.

Afghan officials now say the explosion that struck the country’s capital today killed one person and wounded 11 others.