A powerful bomb blast rocked Afghan capital Kabul Tuesday morning, leaving 40 people dead and injured.

Eyewitnesses said that three persons were killed and 37 others were injured in the blast. But no official report about the casualties has been available so far.

Meantime, Defense Ministry in a press release said it had taken a dead body and 16 injured persons, all of them civilians, to a nearby military hospital.

The blast occurred in Kabul diplomat enclave area of Wazir Akbar Khan where several embassies and international agencies have their offices.

Close to the site of the blast is the house of former Afghan Vice President Ahmad Zia Masoud and according to local media his secretary is among those killed in the incident.

The house of the former Kabul police chief Mohammad Salim Ahsas is also badly damaged in the blast.

Meantime, Taliban outfit, according to local media, has claimed responsibility, saying the target was former president Burhanudin Rabbani.