A thick gravel of glass and metal shards covered the road outside the NATO military headquarters in the centre of the city, as a huge fire hampered attempts to pull the dead and wounded into ambulances.

At exactly 8:30 am (0400 GMT) -- just half an hour after hundreds of employees of the offices, ministries and the huge ISAF complex on the normally quiet road in one of Kabul's most heavily fortified area had arrived for work -- a huge explosion rocked the capital.

The immediate calm that follows such blasts was quickly filled with the screams of sirens and the shouts of people rushing to the scene.

"The blast was so powerful, it was huge, it shook the whole building," said Abdul Raqib, a driver from the nearby ministry of transport who witnessed the blast, told AFP.

Afghanistan's interior ministry said seven people were killed, and 91 were injured.

The blast, the first suicide attack against ISAF headquarters in Kabul, came five days before Afghanistan's August 20 presidential election.

Taliban threats to disrupt the election and an escalated campaign of violence in the north and south have created a tense atmosphere in the capital, where there have been some minor incidents of violence in recent weeks.

Doctors who rushed to the scene were soon covered in the blood of the injured. Soldiers -- some showing wounds from flying glass and debris -- bashed in the doors of parked cars to ensure there were no more bombs.

Leaves and branches blown from trees lining the street opposite the main gate of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters created a lush green carpet, an odd contrast to the carnage and chaos created by the blast.

The destroyed chassis of civilian cars that had been parked on the road smouldered amid a crowd of police, foreign and Afghan soldiers, firefighters, paramedics and turbaned civilians desperate to help or get help.

Firemen used hoses to douse the flames of a huge fire, as teams of government investigators in yellow vests arrived to inspect the scene.

NATO soldiers -- American, British, French and Italian, according to an AFP journalist -- quickly sealed off the area as civilian and Afghan military ambulances arrived to ferry the wounded to hospital.

NATO's top commander US General Stanley McCrystal was seen rushing to the scene. "I have to see my men," he said, but refused to comment further.

Windows of the transport ministry and state-run Radio-Television Afghanistan (RTA) opposite the ISAF base were blown in, causing injuries to many people in both buildings, witnesses said.

"All the windows of the RTA and ministry of transportation were blown out and employees next to them were all wounded," said a witness who asked not to be named.

"Most of the wounded were injured by flying glass, not directly by the blast," he said.

According to the Afghan defence ministry, a suicide car bomb was driven along the leafy street and detonated just metres (yards) from the base's main gate.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack and told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location that the vehicle contained 500 kg (1,102 pounds) of explosives.

ISAF spokesman Eric Tremblay said the vehicle was stopped by Afghan security forces at the first layer of checkpoints at the southern end of the street, near a row of red-and-white concrete barricades.

Witnesses said the explosives-packed vehicle was able to drive north until it was stopped by Afghan soldiers in two armoured vehicles at the next checkpoint metres (yards) from the ISAF gate.

"It was here that the bomber decided to detonate," Tremblay told reporter at the scene.

The explosion took place about 150 metres (164 yards) from the entrance to the US embassy at the northern end of the street, which is guarded by US soldiers in armoured vehicles.

Also nearby is the biggest US-led military base, as well as the residence of the Indian ambassador, the Spanish and Italian embassies, and the entrance to the Afghan Presidential Palace.

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