Kabul

Kabul police spokesman Basir Mujahid said the blast happened at around 8 p.m. at police district 10, adding that more details would be provided after investigations, Xinhua news agency reported. Unknown militants first detonated a car bomb next to the residence of Afghan Defence Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, and the blast was followed by gunshots.

"The base for insurgency is in Quetta, everyone knows that and that is a fact that cannot be discussed," he told The Kabul Times, in response to a question on Pakistani support to Taliban insurgency, adding that the Taliban is seeking absolute power in the country. The French ambassador said: "Taliban want to control the country and they want to cease power; it is not about prisoners.

The rockets landed when they just started the Eid prayers, said a TOLO News report. Sources have confirmed that the rockets were fired from Parwan-e-Se area in Kabul's District 18. The rockets landed in Bagh-e-Ali Mardan and Chaman-e-Hozori areas in Kabul's District 1 and Manabe Bashari area in Kabul's District 2, all near the Presidential Palace.

Turkey's Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said that the country will not send additional troops to Afghanistan as part of a plan to secure the Kabul airport since it already has soldiers in the country. "At the moment, we're not in any situation to send (new) soldiers. It is out of the question for us to send any soldiers there in any way now," Akar told reporters at Parliament on Wednesday.

In a statement released late Saturday via the Nashir News Agency, which publishes the terror group's official propaganda, accused the imam, identified as Mohammad Numan, of encouraging the fight against jihadis, reports dpa news agency. "Soldiers of the caliphate" had planted an explosive device in the mosque, said the statement.

The blast took place at Haji Bakhshi Mosque in Qala-e-Murad Bek area, Shakardara district, TOLO News quoted the police as saying. A security official said that the Imam of the mosque was among the injured persons. The official said the bomb was placed inside the mosque. No group so far has claimed responsibility for the explosion.

An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attached to a vehicle exploded at 8.55 a.m. in Kart-e-Parwan, Police District 4, along a four-line road connecting the Kabul airport to the Intercontinental Hotel. This blast killed two people inside the vehicle and one other person was injured, he said. Earlier in the day, another IED explosion took place in Kart-e-Ariana in Police District 2, wounding four people, Faramarz added.

The blast occurred at 8.12 a.m. local time in Police District 8 injuring three civilians. The attack has not been claimed by any terror group so far. Kabul has seen a recent spate of bomb blasts and killings. At least three people were killed and another person was injured in a blast in the Afghan capital on January 10.

In a statement on Friday, the Supreme Court said that five other collaborators of the attack were sentenced to various jail terms on charges of treason, transfer of explosive materials and cooperation with the Islamic State (IS) terror group which claimed responsibility.

"Four killed and four wounded, including two security forces members, were transported by Kabul Ambulance Service to hospitals following explosions in Kabul on Saturday morning," Masooma Jafari, a spokesperson of the Public Health Ministry, told reporters.