An explosion shook central Kabul Friday, part of a deadly attack on a restaurant popular with expats and wealthy Afghans, officials said.
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A suspect was arrested during the police search of the area after the explosion, Sediqqi told CNN.
“We can confirm a suicide vehicle bomb attack on Le Jardin”, Fraidoon Obaidi, the head of Kabul’s Criminal Investigation Department, told AFP.
“I was talking on the phone when I heard a loud explosion that lit up the whole neighborhood”, said Masoom Ali Hazara, who lives down the street.
Although the 2001 attack overthrew the Taliban, many areas across Afghanistan still face violence and insecurity.
He further added that a gun battle was underway, a statement refuted by Afghan officials.
The Taliban didn’t wait long into to the new year for their first attack, launching a suicide bombing at a French restaurant in Kabul, before other fighters had a shootout with police.
The area is close to a district containing many foreign embassies and government buildings.
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.
The Taliban, who vowed to safeguard lives of ordinary Afghans before launching their annual summer offensive previous year, typically attack places with a high density of civilians.
The attack came a day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a new effort to restart peace talks with the Taliban.
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Officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China are due to meet in Islamabad on January 11 to discuss how to lay the groundwork for possible talks with Taliban militants.
