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A Canadian living in Kabul and an Afghan employee of the Canadian Embassy were among those injured when a suicide car bomb exploded outside of NATO's headquarters in the city, Foreign Affairs has confirmed.

The Canadian suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Foreign Affairs said, while the Afghan employee sustained serious injuries.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon called the bombing a "cowardly and despicable act."

The identity of the injured Canadian has not been released.

The bomb killed at least seven people and wounded 91 others, less than a week before the country's presidential election.

The bomber dodged several security checkpoints set up by Afghan police and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) to detonate the bomb around 8:35 a.m. local time.

The bomb went off just 30 metres from the main entrance of the NATO base, where Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has his office.

It is not known if McChrystal was in the building during the attack.

"The capital of Kabul is an area that we have seen very tight security," CNN's Atia Abawi told Â鶹ӰÊÓ Channel early Saturday morning. "There's a security blanket exploding around the city a week before the elections to make sure that they can catch any suspicious activity. Obviously they weren't able to stop today's attack."

Some of the wounded included ISAF soldiers, said ISAF spokesperson Brig. Gen. E. Tremblay. He did not give a specific number.

Macedonia said three of its soldiers who were guarding the gate when the bomb was detonated were slightly injured.

According to Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a spokesperson for the Afghan Defence Ministry, the dead were all Afghans.

Four Afghan soldiers were among the wounded, the ministry said, as was Awa Alam Nuristani, a member of parliament who also serves as President Hamid Karzai's campaign manager for women.

Karzai condemned the attack, which he said would not deter Afghans from voting in Thursday's election.

"The enemies of Afghanistan, by conducting such attacks, are trying to create fear among the people as we get close to the election," Karzai said in a statement. He said Afghans "are not afraid of any threats, and they will go to cast their votes."

The attack is the worst in the Afghan capital in six months and appears aimed at intimidating civilians against voting in next week's election.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the target was both NATO headquarters and the U.S. Embassy, which is about 150 metres away.

Militants have warned they will attack voting stations on election day.

According to Tremblay, the Taliban were "indiscriminately killing civilians."

Some of the wounded were children who regularly beg and sell gum outside of the military headquarters.

The explosion sent a black cloud of smoke floating above the capital and blew out windows in nearby shops.

"I was drinking tea in our office when a big explosion happened," said Abdul Fahim, who sustained leg injuries. "I lay on the ground and then I saw wounded victims everywhere, including police and civilians."

According to the head of Kabul's criminal investigation department, Abdul Ghafar Sayadzada, more than 270 kilograms of explosives were used.

However, a Taliban spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid, who claimed responsibility for the attack, said 500 kilograms of explosives were used.

Mujahid identified the bomber as Ahmadullah, who hailed from the Bagrami district of Kabul.

Zemeri Bashery, a spokesperson with Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, said police are investigating how the bomber could attack such a highly secure part of the city.

"They must have used a new tactic to carry out this suicide attack," Bashery said. "What kind of tactic we cannot say until the investigation is over."

Mujahid said claims of new tactics were false, but "we have peoples' support with us, the people are helping us to carry out our attacks."

With files from The Associated Press