At least five militants attacked an army outpost near one of Afghanistan's main military academies on Monday and 11 soldiers were killed and 15 wounded, a defence ministry official said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack near the Marshal Fahim military academy in the western outskirts of the capital, Kabul, according to the militant group's Amaq news agency.

It came two days after an ambulance bomb in the centre of the city killed more than 100 people and just over a week after another attack on the Hotel Intercontinental killed more than 20.

Both of those attacks were claimed by the Taliban.

Ministry of Defence officials said the militants attacked the outpost near the well-defended Marshal Fahim academy just before dawn.

One of the attackers blew himself up, one had been killed and two were still fighting. One soldier had been killed and three were wounded, said one official, who declined to be identified.

Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said three soldiers had been wounded and the clash was still going on.

Earlier, resident Mohammad Ehsan said he heard a series of explosions coming from the area beginning at around 5am (0030 GMT) and lasting for at least an hour.

Smaller blasts could still be heard at less frequent intervals.

In October, a suicide attacker rammed a car full of explosives into a bus carrying cadets from the defence university, which is home to one of Afghanistan's main officer training schools, killing 15 of them.