At least two explosions followed by the sound of gunfire were heard close to the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan military hospital in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, a witness who lives nearby said.

Photographs shared by residents showed a plume of smoke over the area of the blasts.

No comment was available from Taliban officials and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Islamic State, which has carried out a series of attacks on mosques and other targets since the Taliban's seizure of Kabul in August, attacked the 400-bed hospital in 2017, killing more than 30 people.