KABUL: An Afghan official says a car bombing near a foreign guest house in central Kabul has wounded one person.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the massive explosion that shook buildings in the area Friday.

A Taliban spokesman said a suicide bomber targeted the guesthouse in Sherpur, an area with embassies and other diplomatic buildings that seen to be one of the safer parts of the Afghan capital.

Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Ayub Salangi said security forces were searching homes in the area.

The Taliban spokesman said the attack targeted “an invader's guest house”.

“A car bomb hit Sherpur but the exact target is not immediately clear, “said CID chief Fraidoon Obaidi. “The attackers are firing gunshots, it's very dark and we are trying to be cautious. “

Sherpur is home to several foreign NGOs and residences of senior government officials, including former warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, Afghanistan's first vice-president.

Security officials cordoned off the streets and ambulances with wailing sirens were seen rushing to the scene.

The attack follows a 27-hour Taliban siege this week of Kandahar airport, the largest military installation in southern Afghanistan, in which at least 50 people died, including women and children.

Eleven suicide attackers on Tuesday breached the high-security complex which also houses a joint NATO-Afghan base, taking families hostage and triggering pitched firefights with soldiers.

Related: Kandahar airport siege: Death toll jumps to 50, say officials