Kabul bomb: Huge blast targets French restaurant

Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul said 15 people were wounded in the attack, and a 12-year-old boy was killed.

Ahmad Parwaiz a local resident said “windows were shattered and our house was damaged”.

Afghan security forces investigate at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.

A spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry said police arrested one suspect after the bombing, according to the Washington Post.

Initial reports were that attackers entered the restaurant compound after the explosion, but later police said it was unclear whether attackers or any bystanders were still inside.

Taliban has claimed responsibility for the explosion during the New Year celebrations in a popular restaurant at the 9th street of Taimani in Kabul, where four civilians were injured.

President Ashraf Ghani had earlier announced that officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China are due to meet in Pakistan on January 11 for a meeting aimed at laying the ground for talks with the Taliban.

Prospects of success have been clouded by bloody infighting in the Taliban over the leadership succession which has made it hard to identify which parts of the movement may be open to talks and which remain committed to the insurgency.

Those security gates may have saved lives Friday when the vehicle exploded outside just as the restaurant began serving dinner. Another 18 people were wounded in the attack.

The first round of the face-to-face talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government was held in Pakistan in July a year ago, but the process was halted by the new Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor following the confirmation of the death of former leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.