KABUL - A SUICIDE bomber blew up an explosives-filled car outside the Indian embassy in the centre of the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, causing several casualties, the interior ministry said.

'It was a suicide car bomb in front of the Indian embassy. There are casualties but at this time a don't have a figure,' ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

An Afghan man at the scene told AFP it appeared that the bomber blew up just outside the gate of the embassy, which is near the interior ministry.

About four cars were destroyed and flesh was scattered across the area, but it was not clear if it was from the bomber or casualties, he said.

At least nine wounded were evacuated and ambulances sent to the area, an employee of the city's ambulance services told AFP on condition of anonymity.

It was not yet known if there were any dead, he said.

The explosion just after 8.30am sent plumes of brown smoke into the air and was heard across the central city.

Kabul has in recent years been hit by a series bomb attacks, including suicide attacks, blamed on Islamic rebels - mainly the Taleban.

The last blast was on June 1, when a remote-controlled bomb blew up near a minivan taking Afghan army staff to work. A woman was killed and five other people wounded.

Days earlier a suicide blast in the city struck a convoy of the US-led coalition military force which is helping Afghanistan defeat a Taleban insurgency and train its army.

The soldiers all survived but three civilians were killed.

The Taleban were ousted in an invasion led by the United States in late 2001 after the rebels refused to hand over Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Their insurgency left 8,000 people dead last year, most of them rebels.