Afghanistan: At least 10 dead, 19 wounded in attack on G4S site in Kabul

At least 10 people were killed and 19 were wounded in an attack on a compound of the British security group G4S in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday, a health ministry spokesman said.

An interior ministry official said an unknown number of gunmen had entered the compound after a car bomb exploded near the facility and were battling security forces.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

A senior security official said the blast happened close to a compound of British security contractor group G4S, near an industrial park on the main road leading out of Kabul towards eastern Afghanistan.

The explosion came only hours after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told a UN-sponsored conference in Geneva of plans to seek a peace agreement with the Taliban.

As efforts to open peace talks with the Taliban have picked up following the appointment of US special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, there has been no slackening in the violence which kills thousands of people in Afghanistan every year.

Three US service members were killed close to the central city of Ghazni on Tuesday and at least 30 Afghan civilians were killed in a US air strike overnight, officials and local residents said.