A car bomb targeting an Afghan lawmaker killed nine people and wounded more than a dozen in Kabul on December 20, officials said, the latest attack to rock the capital.

Kabul has been hit by a wave of deadly violence in recent months despite the Taliban and government engaging in peace talks to end the country’s long conflict.

December 20’s bombing targeted member of Parliament (MP) Khan Mohammad Wardak who was injured in the attack, officials said.

“Nine people were killed and 20 others were wounded in the car bomb,” Interior minister Masoud Andrabi told reporters, adding that all the casualties were civilians.

The ministry said in a separate statement that women and children were among those wounded by the “terrorist attack”.

A security source said the car bomb detonated in the west of the capital.

The source said: “It was a powerful explosion that has caused a lot of damage to houses in the vicinity.”

Television footage showed at least two cars on fire, with plumes of thick black smoke billowing into the sky.

An aide to lawmaker Wardak said the attack occurred when he was travelling in his convoy, and five of his bodyguards were among the wounded.

President Ashraf Ghani said in a statement condemning the bombing: “The enemies of Afghanistan carried out a terrorist attack on Khan Mohammad Wardak.

“Terrorist attacks on civilian targets and facilities will endanger the opportunity for peace.”

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, and the Taliban denied their involvement.

The jihadist Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for some of the recent attacks in Kabul.

Dozens of people, mostly students, were killed when IS jihadists attacked two education centres, including one at Kabul University that saw gunmen open fire on classrooms.

The group has also claimed a series of recent rocket attacks in and around Kabul.

Later on December 20, a roadside bomb blast in west Kabul killed one civilian, police said, adding that two other bombs were dismantled in the area.

Kabul has seen a spate of targeted assassinations of prominent figures in recent months, including top officials, journalists, clerics, politicians and rights activists.

Last week a deputy governor of Kabul province was killed when a bomb attached to his vehicle detonated while he was on his way to work.

Vice-President Amrullah Saleh, a strong opponent of the Taliban, was appointed in October to lead a taskforce to curb the violence in Kabul.

Saleh’s programme was popular with people in the capital, which prompted the Taliban to launch new attacks in an attempt to discredit him, said Sayed Nasir Musawi, an independent Kabul-based political analyst.

December 20’s car bomb comes just two days after 15 children were killed and many more wounded when a motorbike laden with explosives blew up near a religious gathering in a remote part of the eastern province of Ghazni, officials said, blaming the Taliban.