At least 15 dead in Kabul hospital attack

At least 15 people have been killed and 34 wounded after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Afghanistan's biggest military hospital in Kabul, a Taliban security official says.

The explosions took place at the entrance of the 400-bed Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan hospital in central Kabul and security forces had been sent to the area, Interior ministry spokesman Qari Saeed Khosty said on Tuesday.

There was no confirmation of casualty numbers but a Taliban security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were at least 15 dead and 34 wounded.

Italian aid group Emergency, which runs a trauma hospital 3km from the site of the blast, said nine wounded had been brought in so far.

Photographs shared by residents showed a plume of smoke over the area of the blasts near the former diplomatic zone in the Wazir Akbar Khan area of the city, and witnesses said at least two helicopters were flying over the area.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the official Bakhtar news agency quoted witnesses saying a number of Islamic State fighters entered the hospital and clashed with security forces.

The blasts add to a growing list of attacks and killings since the Taliban completed their overthrow of the Western-backed government in August, undermining their claim to have restored security to Afghanistan after decades of war.

Islamic State, which has carried out a series of attacks on mosques and other targets since the Taliban's seizure of Kabul in August, mounted an attack on the hospital in 2017, killing more than 30 people.