Kabul - A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-filled vest inside a ministry in the centre of Kabul Thursday morning, causing up to five casualties, an interior ministry spokesman said.

The bomber entered inside the Ministry of Information and Culture in a busy area in the heart of city, Zemarai Bashary, interior ministry spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"So far we can confirm that five people were killed or wounded," he said, adding that the number of casualties "might go up as we are still helping with evacuation."

A dpa reporter at the scene of the attack said that the area, which is packed with stalls and shops, was littered with glass, office equipment and mangled pieces of the ministry's front door.

Witness Mahmoud Jan said he heard sounds of small-arms fire after the blast.

A ministry official, who did not want to be named said that the ministry's security guards opened fire on the bomber, but he managed to enter the building and detonate himself. (dpa)