KABUL (REUTERS) - At least five people were killed on Tuesday by a bomb in the parking lot of Afghanistan's Ministry of Justice, an official said.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Sediq Sediqqi confirmed that five were dead and several wounded in the blast, the fifth major attack in the Afghan capital in a little more than two weeks.

Sirens could be heard in the minutes after the blast as rescuers and police rushed to the scene.

It was the fifth major attack in Kabul in just over two weeks, coinciding with a new offensive by Taliban insurgents across the country. A police official said a car packed with explosives detonated in the ministry's car park in the late afternoon. He had no further information.

The blast sent a plume of black smoke billowing above the city and was strong enough to rattle windows several kilometres away in Kabul's diplomatic district.

No one immediately claimed the bombing, but the Taliban have already attacked employees of Afghanistan's justice system this month, twice slamming car bombs into buses carrying employees of the attorney general's office.

At least four people were killed in the two previous attacks.