A roadside bomb targeting an Afghan cabinet minister exploded in the western city of Herat on Sunday, killing at least three people, officials said, Reuters reported.
Energy and Water Minister Mohammad Ismail Khan, a prominent anti-Taliban commander, was not hurt, police said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on Khan, a key member of the Northern Alliance whose forces helped U.S. forces in toppling the Taliban in 2001.
"The target was Ismail Khan," Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The explosion occurred outside a school in Herat, killing three people and wounding 16, residents and a doctor said.
Police in Kabul said Khan survived the attack unscathed.
"He was on his way to Kabul and is fine," a police source in Kabul said. "But civilians have been killed."