Up to three people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the information ministry in the heart of the Afghan capital today, police said.
Ali Shah Amadzai, deputy police chief for Kabul, said a woman was among the three people killed.
A doctor at a hospital near the blast site said at least one person was killed and 18 were wounded by the blast, the latest episode in escalating violence in Afghanistan this year.
The blast damaged part of the first floor of the ministry, which lies several hundred metres away from the presidential palace in central Kabul and forced authorities to evacuate ministry officials.
A police source described the blast as a suicide attack, a rare security breach inside the heavily secured Kabul ministry.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.
Taliban insurgents have launched a number of attacks inside Kabul this year.
The Taliban, overthrown in a US-led invasion in 2001, have stepped up their insurgency despite an increase in the number of foreign troops.
The bloodiest suicide attack so far in Kabul came in July, when almost 60 people were killed outside the Indian embassy, including two Indian embassy staff.
Other high-profile attacks in Kabul this year include an assassination attempt against President Hamid Karzai in April and the killing of several foreigners in the past two weeks.
Officials say some of the attacks were carried out with the help of members of Afghanistan's security forces.
Reuters