KABUL: A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up at the Afghan interior ministry on Wednesday, killing six police officers just three days before the country’s presidential election, which the militants have vowed to disrupt.

The attack came as the three leading candidates to succeed President Hamid Karzai made a final push for votes with rallies on the last day of campaigning.

Kabul has been rocked by a string of high-profile attacks in the run-up to Saturday’s election, which will be the first democratic handover of power in Afghanistan’s history.

“The suicide attacker wearing a military uniform detonated himself near the gate of the ministry killing six policemen,” interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.

He said the blast occurred in an annex to the ministry, which is one of the most closely-guarded buildings in the Afghan capital.

“The explosion shook my shop. I saw a column of smoke coming out of the ministry,” shopkeeper Rahim Gul said. “Around 10 minutes later an ambulance rushed in and came out quickly from the ministry.”

A diplomat in the Indian embassy, which is adjacent to the ministry, said he heard a huge bang and that he and his colleagues were ordered to shelter in reinforced safe rooms.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack through one of their recognised Twitter accounts.

In February 2012 two US military advisers were shot dead at the interior ministry during a wave of anti-Western unrest sparked by the burning of copies of the Holy Quran by American forces.

Meanwhile, the presidential election is seen as a benchmark of progress since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001, and the militants have urged their fighters to target polling staff, voters and security forces.

On Saturday, the Kabul headquarters of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) was attacked when five Taliban militants occupied a nearby building and unleashed rockets and gunfire at the fortified compound. All five attackers were killed by Afghan security forces six hours after the attack began, and there were no other casualties.

Another IEC centre, Kabul’s most prestigious hotel and a guesthouse run by a US anti-landmine charity have also been targeted in recent weeks.