Three dead in Kabul suicide bomb intended to strike security firm G4S

A Taliban car bomb killed at least three people and wounded two in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday in an apparent attack on a British contractor company that came despite a further tightening in security across the city, officials said.

Deputy interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said the suicide bomber had been driving towards G4S but "detonated himself before reaching the target".

The suicide bomber struck at 9am local time in the high-security Dispichari area of the Afghan capital, close to a compound housing foreign contractors. 

 An official in the Kabul interior ministry told The Telegraph that the car bomber target a British private security firm's vehicle but added that all foreigners  remained safe in the attack.

The security firm was providing security for foreign contractors at the time of the attack

The explosion was also about 30 metres away from a foreign forces camp.

The Ministry of Interior confirmed three  people had been killed and four others were wounded. 

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing, claiming one of the group's members carried out the attack on a foreign forces' convoy.

A spokesman for the terror organisation said in a statement: "The target was a foreign automobile and the attack was successful."

The Taliban routinely exaggerates the number of people killed in its attacks, while Afghan officials tend to understate the casualty toll.

The attack comes weeks before the start of the spring fighting season which is expected to be more intense this year as militants respond to intensifying US and Afghan air strikes and ground offensives.