17 killed in Kabul suicide bombing

At least 17 people were killed and 25 wounded when a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up trying to enter a police building in Afghanistan's capital Kabul.

The area was sealed off by police as ambulances rushed to the scene of what witnesses described as a powerful blast on Monday, reports Al Jazeera.

"The suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a civil order police building in the centre of the city," the TV report said.

The blast took place in Dehmazang area.

Earlier, General Mohammad Ayoub Salangi, a top police official, posted on his official Twitter account: "In the Dehmazang square suicide attack, 10 people have been reportedly killed and 20 wounded. Most of them are civilians."

The attack comes five days before another scheduled round of peace talks in the presence of Afghan, Pakistan, Chinese and the US officials.

Kabul was hit by a series of suicide attacks last month, including one that killed seven journalists from a private television station, as the Taliban stepped up its campaign against the West-backed government.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the incident.