A Turkish soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force stands guard at the scene of a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)

A suicide bomb blast on Tuesday near the Kabul home of a former Afghan vice-president and a hotel frequented by Westerners killed eight people and wounded 40 others.

The explosion triggered by a car bomb struck near the Heetal Hotel in the Afghan capital city's Wazir Akbar Khan district mid-morning Tuesday. The district is home to government officials as well as an area of international organizations and diplomatic residences.

Windows on nearby buildings were shattered, and a large cloud of smoke rose from the area.

The Afghan Interior Ministry said the actual target of the blast was unclear, but security personnel at the scene claimed the target was the home of former first vice-president Ahmad Zia Massoud. Massoud is the brother of Ahmad Shah Massoud, an anti-Taliban hero who was killed by al-Qaeda two days before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the United States.

"It was a suicide attack," said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary. "We are investigating. We don't know the target of the attack."

A witness at the scene, a 22-year-old English student at Kabul University, reported seeing a black four-wheel-drive vehicle at the hotel.

"It drove very slowly to the checkpoint" of the hotel, said Hamayun Azizi. "And then it blew up."

The force of the blast flipped the vehicle over, and it landed about 10 metres from the site of the explosion.

Police and emergency vehicles rushed to the area and were seen taking to hospital those injured in the blast. Members of the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police secured the area.

The hotel is owned by the son of Burhanuddin Rabbani, who served as president of Afghanistan from 1992 until 1996.

With files from The Associated Press