Reports from Afghanistan say the blast, believed to be a suicide attack, occurred near to the interior ministry office and the Indian embassy.

It is believed the bomber drove a car into the area, detonating it close to the outer wall of the embassy. At least 12 people are believed to have been killed and at least another 80 injured in the attack.

The explosion hit at 08:27 local time (04:53 BST), as local people were on their way to work. India’s foreign secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters that she believed "the suicide bomb was directed against the Indian embassy".

"The suicide bomber came up to the outer perimeter wall of the embassy in a car loaded with explosives," she said.

Three Indian paramilitary troops guarding the embassy received minor shrapnel injuries, the minister added.

Today’s attack is the latest in a series of attacks on Kabul, which has particularly targeted international and government forces. Last month six Italian soldiers were killed in a bomb attack on a military convoy.

In July 2008 a suicide bomber rammed a car full of explosives into the gates of the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital, killing dozens of people and injuring more than 140.

Oxfam and a coalition of NGOs have said today the death toll has reached 2.1 million in the "three years of talks about talks" which are "going at a snail’s pace".

In a report published today, "Dying for Action", Oxfam and 11 other NGOs who support the international Control Arms campaign, show millions of people have died either directly or indirectly as a result of armed violence since governments agreed in 2006 on the need to regulate the arms trade.

They say this is the equivalent of more than 2,000 people per day – worse than one person killed each minute.

Governments are meeting this month at the United Nations in New York in a debate to decide whether to officially kick start formal negotiations on creating an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Oxfam said that a treaty must be concluded before the end of 2012 at the latest.

"Eight out of every ten governments want to get an Arms Trade Treaty agreed and ordinary citizens are calling for one too. This month we need the majority of enlightened countries at the UN to make it happen. An intransigent few cannot be allowed to keep their foot on the brakes forever," said Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International.

"Even though there has been a marked decline in wars since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the number of violent attacks against civilians has continued at intolerable levels," Jan Egeland, the former UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, wrote in the report.

"Only a forceful, unambiguous and verifiable convention can control transfers and do away with the networks of illegal arms brokers that supply our generation’s weapons of mass killings and mass misery."

Mr Obama told members of Congress on Tuesday he would soon decide on a course of action but warned his decision would not please everyone.

The president met with around 30 senior congressional figures – Democrats and Republicans – on the eve of the eighth anniversary of the start of the military campaign.

Divisions are beginning to appear between some Democrats, who are continuing to raise fears over sending more US troops into Afghanistan, and Republicans who continue to publicly back senior military officials in calling for greater troop levels.

Reports suggest Mr Obama has ruled out scaling down the offensive to target key al-Qaida leaders, but has so far yet to commit either way on troop numbers.

The president’s top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is said to be seeking between 30,000 and 40,000 more troops to be deployed.

However, some Democrats are worried about the potential dangers of an expanding military presence in the country.

Mr Obama has already raised troop levels in Afghanistan by 21,000 to a total of 68,000.

Public backing of the military campaign appears to be wavering in the US with recent opinion polls suggesting members of the public are becoming disillusioned in the fight against the Taliban.

Nearly 900 US soldiers have died since the offensive was launched back in September 2001.

Mr Obama will hold further meetings with military chiefs and ambassadors today to discuss the ongoing situation in Afghanistan.

Oxfam and a coalition of NGOs have said today the death toll has reached 2.1 million in the "three years of talks about talks" which are "going at a snail’s pace".

In a report published today, "Dying for Action", Oxfam and 11 other NGOs who support the international Control Arms campaign, show millions of people have died either directly or indirectly as a result of armed violence since governments agreed in 2006 on the need to regulate the arms trade.

They say this is the equivalent of more than 2,000 people per day – worse than one person killed each minute.

Governments are meeting this month at the United Nations in New York in a debate to decide whether to officially kick start formal negotiations on creating an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Oxfam said that a treaty must be concluded before the end of 2012 at the latest.

"Eight out of every ten governments want to get an Arms Trade Treaty agreed and ordinary citizens are calling for one too. This month we need the majority of enlightened countries at the UN to make it happen. An intransigent few cannot be allowed to keep their foot on the brakes forever," said Jeremy Hobbs, executive director of Oxfam International.

"Even though there has been a marked decline in wars since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the number of violent attacks against civilians has continued at intolerable levels," Jan Egeland, the former UN under secretary general for humanitarian affairs, wrote in the report.

"Only a forceful, unambiguous and verifiable convention can control transfers and do away with the networks of illegal arms brokers that supply our generation’s weapons of mass killings and mass misery."

Talks will first be held with the US, reports say, after the state abandoned talks in April saying it would "never again take part in such talks".

However, a visit to Pyongyang by Wen Jiabao, the Chinese prime minister, seems to have persuaded North Korea to change their tact. The US has said they are eager to take part in the talks.

Xinhua, the Chinese government news agency, said a "vital consensus" had been reached on the issue.

The six-party talks constitute delegates from the two Koreas, China, the US, Russia and Japan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il reportedly told Mr Wen that Pyongyang was "willing to attend multilateral talks, including the six-party talks, depending on the progress in its talks with the United States," according to China’s Xinhua news agency.

Reports from the city say two of the dead are local women and the third is an Iraqi man.

The blast came just a day after the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban promised fresh attacks to retaliate against the US missile strikes in the northwest, one of which killed their leader Baitullah Mehsud.

As yet it is not confirmed who attacked the UN offices, but the suspicion is the Taliban are responsible.

Today’s bomb, which injured several people, went off in the reception of the building, raising questions over the security of the WFP.

The BBC report interior minister Rehman Malik as sayings the bomber was dressed in a frontier corps uniform and asked to go inside to use the toilet.

Mr Malik said the attack would not "slacken the resolve" of Pakistan’s efforts to counter the Taliban.

The WFP said three of its staff members had been confirmed dead and several others had been injured – two were in a critical condition.

"This is a terrible tragedy for WFP, and for the whole humanitarian community in Pakistan," said WFP deputy executive director, Amir Abdulla, speaking from the UN agency’s headquarters in Rome.

"Our deepest condolences go to the family, friends and colleagues of those who died or were injured in this incident. These were people working to assist the poor and the vulnerable on the frontlines of hunger in Pakistan."

As part of an emergency relief programme, WFP has been providing vital food assistance to as many as two million Pakistani civilians displaced by conflict in the Swat Valley region.

In recent months, many of the displaced have started returning to their home villages.

Mr Wen met with the communist state’s reclusive leader Kim Jong-il upon his arrival on Sunday, highlighting the importance of the trip.

The Chinese premier then met his North Korean counterpart Kim Yong-il.

While there has been no concrete commitment to rejoin the multilateral denuclearisation talks, Pyongyang had claimed it is still open to dialogue.

North Korea withdrew from the talks in April before conducting a nuclear test in May, provoking international condemnation.

It is hoped the current Chinese trip will bring Pyongyang back into negotiations with Japan, Russia, South Korea, China and the United States.

The subject of international denuclearisation has become one of US president Barack Obama’s chief foreign policy objectives.

Along with the leaders of Britain and France, he led criticism of Iran at the G20 summit last month after the discovery of a uranium enrichment plant.

Mr Brown will be meeting with Ireland’s political leaders in a bid to resolve the issue, with relations between Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists deteriorating over recent weeks.

At the heart of the row is the issue of when policing justice powers should be devolved from Westminster. It is hoped the visit from the PM will resolve the issue, when the leaders meet at Stormont castle today.

Sinn Fein deputy-leader first minister Martin McGuinness wants the devolved policing powers to come into effect immediately, while DUP first minister Peter Robinson is more cautious.

As a consequence, while both support the transfer of law and order responsibilities from Westminster, they are at loggerheads over the timing.

Mr McGuinness claims the move should have happened months ago but the DUP says funding – thought to be around £600 million – must be in place first.

The amount of cash provided by the UK government is likely to top the agenda at the talks in Stormont castle.

Mr Brown will also receive a briefing on the current threat posed by dissident republicans from Northern Ireland’s new chief constable Matt Baggott.

More than 67 per cent voted yes to ratifying the treaty, which aims to streamline decision-making in the EU. There was a 58 per cent turnout among the three million-strong Irish electorate.

It means only Poland and the Czech Republic are yet to ratify the bill out of the 27 member states, although it must have universal support to pass.

They are both expected to sign up in the next few days after their respective parliaments approved the legislation.

The result of the poll in Ireland comes 16 months after the country’s initial referendum rejected the law outright – forcing European leaders to look again at the new laws.

Irish prime minister Brian Cowen said the landslide victory for the ‘yes’ vote gave the population "a clear and resounding voice".

"It is a good day for Ireland and a good day for Europe," he said.

"The Irish people showed an Ireland embracing her future with Europe."

The earthquake on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, which reached a magnitude of 7.6, has already claimed the lives of more than 1,100 people, according to the United Nations (UN).

Teams of rescue workers are being rushed to the island in a bid to respond to the natural disaster, which has left thousands trapped under rubble.

"These numbers, I fear, will rise as more info becomes available," John Holmes, under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs at the UN, told reporters in New York on Thursday.

"The Indonesian government’s announcement of a two-month emergency phase is an indication of the severity of this crisis."

The earthquake struck close to the city of Padang, bringing buildings including hospitals and schools crashing to the ground.

Padang is the capital of Indonesia’s West Sumatra province, and sits on one of the world’s most active fault lines along the "Ring of Fire", renowned for generating earthquakes where the Into-Australia plate grinds against the Eurasia plate to create earth tremors.

The same fault line caused the 2004 earthquake that generated a tsunami which killed thousands of people.

A UN team – comprising members from the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN children’s fund (UNICEF) and others – has arrived in the city of Padang, which has a population of nearly one million.

"When nature strikes with such force, the world must come together," Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said in a statement.

Last reports said nine children had been found alive in the rubble of a school, but eight were pulled out dead.

Australia’s foreign minister Stephen Smith said that up to 100 Australians were unaccounted for after the quake, although there was no evidence so far that any had been killed or injured. He added that Australia would be offering aid and support to Sumatra.

US president Barack Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, also pledged to support the recovery effort.