A suicide car bomber struck Tuesday near the home of a former Afghan vice president and a hotel frequented by Westerners, killing at least eight people and wounding nearly 40 in a neighborhood considered one of Kabul's safest.

The blast was the deadliest in the heart of the city since an Oct. 28 assault on a guesthouse filled with U.N. staffers killed eight people, including five U.N. workers.

Tuesday's attack occurred at mid-morning in Kabul's heavily guarded Wazir Akbar Khan district, an area favored by foreigners and wealthy Afghans.

Security officials at the scene suspected the target was the home of former Vice President Ahmad Zia Massoud _ brother of legendary anti-Taliban fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was killed in an al-Qaida suicide bombing two days before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

"Of course we were the target," said Shah Asmat, an aide to the former vice president. "Before, the Taliban killed Massoud. Now, they tried to kill his brother."

Ahmad Zia Massoud, who served in President Hamid Karzai's first administration that expired last month, was home but he was not injured.

The scene was chaotic, with rescue workers rushing victims on stretchers past the suicide bomber's shattered vehicle, which flipped and was engulfed in flames. Thick black smoke rose from the area, situated at the base of a hill adorned with a huge billboard portrait of the late Massoud.

The explosion was heard several miles away at the Foreign Ministry, where about 200 officials and diplomats were meeting to discuss corruption in the Afghan government.

During a speech at the gathering, Karzai said two of Massoud's guards were among the dead. In a statement released later by the palace, Karzai condemned the bombing as an attack on "humanity and Islam."

Four men and four women were killed and nearly 40 people were wounded, Ministry of Interior spokesman Zemeri Bashary said. Former Kabul police chief Salim Asas, who lives in a house near the explosion, was wounded along with a family member and another relative was killed, said Abdul Ghafor Sayedzada, chief of criminal investigation for the Kabul police.

The attack slightly damaged the Heetal Hotel, which is owned by the son of Burhanuddin Rabbani, who served as president of Afghanistan from 1992 until 1996. Three homes, including the former vice president's, were severely damaged and windows in nearby buildings were shattered.

A witness at the scene reported seeing a black four-wheel-drive vehicle near a barricade on the street.

"It drove very slowly to the checkpoint," said Hamayun Azizi a 22-year-old English student at Kabul University. "And then it blew up."