KABUL, Afghanistan —

       An explosion went off Tuesday at the entrance of a military hospital in Kabul, killing three people and wounding at least 16, health officials said.

       The blast went off at the entrance to the Sardar Mohammad Dawood Khan military hospital, the spokesman of the Taliban-run Interior Ministry, Saeed Khosty, tweeted. He added that special forces were at the scene.

       Residents nearby reported two explosions in the area near the hospital in Kabul’s 10th district, along with the sound of gunfire.

       Later Tuesday, Sayed Abdullah Ahmadi, the director of the nearby Wazir Akbar Khan hospital, said his facility had received three dead bodies and seven people who were injured in the blast.

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       Another nine wounded were taken to the Afghanistan Emergency Hospital.

       There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. In recent weeks, the militant Islamic State group has carried out a series of bombing and shooting attacks. Islamic State is a rival of the Taliban, and has stepped up attacks since the Taliban took complete control of Afghanistan in August.