Blast near US embassy in Afghan capital, witnesses and official say

An explosion struck within metres of the entrance to the US embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, early on Thursday, police and witnesses said.

A police official said the blast was near a major traffic circle just outside the main entrance to the embassy and the headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul. Reuters witnesses heard alarms blaring across the sprawling compound soon after the blast.

The attack came a day after a suicide bomber attacked a German convoy entering an ISAF at the city's international airport.

(Reporting by Dylan Welch)