Three suicide attackers mounted an assault on the offices of a non-governmental organisation in the Afghan city of Kandahar, killing three people today, officials said.
One attacker detonated a truck bomb outside the offices, killing three civilians and wounding two others, before two other attackers entered the compound and fired at security forces, said police and government officials.
The car bomber had exploded in front of the offices of the US-based International Relief and Development offices in the southern city, said a statement from Kandahar government's media office.
"Three local civilians have been killed and two others including a Nepali national (were) wounded in truck-born improvised explosive device attack near the IRD branch in Kandahar," said the statement.
It said the attackers struck at 6 am (0130 GMT) and that two gunmen remained holed up in a nearby animal clinic where they were shooting small arms fire on security forces in the area. Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said the insurgent group were responsible for a car bomb attack in Kandahar but claimed it was on the offices of the United Nations refugee agency.
The United Nations have some offices in the same compound but the media office said that all UN offices appeared safe. A doctor at nearby Mirwais hospital said it had received three wounded, two of whom had since died.
A day earlier a Kandahar provincial government official and former Taliban shadow governor escaped a roadside bombing in the city with minor injuries.