A suicide bomber detonated a device Wednesday near Afghanistan's foreign ministry in the capital, causing more than 20 causalities, an AFP staff member said.

Images from the scene show people lying in the snow in the street outside the central Kabul building.

"I don't know how many of them were dead or injured," AFP driver Jamshed Karimi said, adding: "I saw the man blow himself up."

Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran confirmed the explosion "which unfortunately resulted in casualties".

"Security teams have reached the area," he tweeted.

The Taliban claim to have improved security since storming back to power in August 2021 but there have been scores of bomb blasts and attacks, many claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State (IS) group.