Kabul: At least 14 people were killed and 145 wounded in a massive Taliban bomb blast Wednesday as fresh violence gripped Kabul even as insurgents appear to be closing in on a peace deal with the US. The bloodshed in the capital comes amid an ongoing surge in attacks across Afghanistan, where some 1,500 people were killed or injured last month alone. A huge plume of black smoke was seen rising over western Kabul following a massive explosion at the entrance to a police compound around 9:00 am (0430 GMT).

The Afghan interior ministry said the explosion was caused by a car bomb, but the Taliban, which claimed the attack, said it was a much larger truck bomb. An Afghan security official also told AFP it was a truck bomb. Images on social media showed toppled blast walls surrounding several largely destroyed buildings in a compound. Afghan authorities said at least 10 civilians and four police officers had been killed. Another 145 people, including 92 civilians, were wounded. "As the air cleared, I saw several women crying, desperately looking for their husbands or children near the blast site," local journalist Zakeria Hasani, who lives near the police station, told AFP. Shopkeeper Ahmad Saleh said his store windows had blown out, sending glass flying.