At least 80 people, mostly Afghan civilians, have been killed by a massive bomb blast in Kabul, and more than 300 people were wounded.

The explosion struck at the heart of the Afghan capital's diplomatic area, with scenes of carnage, panic and sorrow quickly emerging.

Journalists said the windows of their offices shook, while people ran from the epicentre of the blast with bloody faces.

Aziz Nawin, an IT engineer with the Afghan TOLO news outlet, was one of the first victims to be named.

Mohammed Nazir, a driver with the BBC, the British public broadcaster, was also killed, the outlet confirmed.

READ MORE: World leaders condemn deadly attack in Kabul

The blast came just two days into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

At the time of publication, the top worldwide trends on Twitter were #covefefe, a possible typo included in a tweet by US President Donald Trump as he railed against "constant negative press", and #MasterChefBR, which collected tweets regarding a cooking contest in Brazil.

#Kabul was third.

This is how the event, one of the biggest attacks to have hit Kabul, is playing out on social media:

Windows shattered. Felt so close. Kabul blast. Wazir Akbar Khan. — Lotfullah Najafizada (@LNajafizada) May 31, 2017

Heartbreaking! We lost a colleague, Aziz Nawin, 22, an IT engineer, in today's barbaric attack in Kabul. RIP! pic.twitter.com/HHnmAKvppC BBC statement: pic.twitter.com/FBl4IRi16E — BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) May 31, 2017 — Lotfullah Najafizada (@LNajafizada) May 31, 2017

Massive explosion just shattered all the windows and glass in our bureau #Kabul — Jessica Donati (@jessdonati) May 31, 2017

Would people sit up and take notice of #Afghanistan if we called the explosion in #Kabul a MOAB? — Eric Jones (@Intrigue_Jones) May 31, 2017

By God's grace, Indian Embassy staff are safe in the massive #Kabul blast. — Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 31, 2017

More than the "German embassy," the blast took place in a high-trafficked area of Kabul where school, hospital, restaurant, hotel etc are https://t.co/LZocK6ajs3 — Ali M Latifi (@alibomaye) May 31, 2017

we were jolted way badly in about 2 km distance. Horrific it was. — Roohul Amin Munqaad (@RMunqaad) May 31, 2017

when first switched on my laptop, the office building shocked, thought its an earthquake. — Ezatullah ADIB (@EzatullahAdib) May 31, 2017

I'd like to think Trump went to situation room to deal w Kabul explosion, but we all know that wouldn't keep him from finishing a tweet — Mikkel Stern-Peltz (@msternpeltz) May 31, 2017

We want peace but, those who kill us in the holy month of Ramadan don't worth a call for peace, they most be destroyed and uprooted. 2/2 — Dr. Abdullah (@afgexecutive) May 31, 2017

The car bombing in Kabul is tragic. However, from the reporting I kind of feel we only care because it's near European embassies.

Not. On.

😤 — Kiz Doodoopoopooface (@kizletwiggle) May 31, 2017

Hope this evokes the same anger, disgust as an attack in Manchester. A bloody Ramzan for Kabul. Thoughts and prayers https://t.co/nV7s7h9OcF — Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) May 31, 2017