Kabul: The chairman of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, was killed in an attack on his home in Kabul on Tuesday, a senior police official said.

“Rabbani has been martyred,” Mohammed Zahir, head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Kabul

Police, told Reuters. He had no further details.

Afghanistan's Peace Council chairman Burhannuddin Rabbani has been killed in an explosion at his home in Kabul

A loud explosion rocked Kabul close to the US embassy and Rabbani’s home who now led the country’s efforts to talk peace with the Taliban, an AFP reporter said.

The blast took place in the city’s diplomatic zone close to the home of Rabbani, the reporter said, added that an ambulance had arrived at the scene and surrounding roads were blocked off.

“There was an explosion in front of Burhanuddin Rabbani’s home, but I have no information about casualties,” police spokesman Hashmatullah Stanikzai said.

Mr Stanikzai said it was “probably” a suicide attack, but he could not confirm it.