<p>Taliban militants today attacked an Afghan intelligence service office in the eastern city of Jalalabad, killing at least three people in a bomb and gun assault, officials said.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"The attack was carried out by a vehicle bomb on the Nangarhar provincial NDS office, and then some militants started attacking the office," Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the Nangarhar provincial governor, told AFP.<br /><br />"Nangarhar NDS (National Directorate of Security) told us at least three of their employees were killed in the attack."<br /><br />The militants and NDS employees exchanged fire early today.<br /><br />The head of Nangarhar public hospital told AFP they had received six bodies.<br /><br />"Six dead bodies and 46 wounded were brought to the hospital -- 26 of them are admitted and the rest were discharged," doctor Najeebullah Kamawal said, adding the injuries were due to flying glass.<br /><br />Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in an email statement to the media, claiming several NDS agents were killed in the attack.<br /><br />The intelligence service has regularly been targeted by the militants.<br /><br />In December 2012, NDS head Asadullah Khalid was seriously wounded in an attack by a Taliban "envoy" who detonated an explosive device hidden in his underwear.<br /><br />The militants have stepped up attacks on symbols of power in recent weeks, seeing to destabilise the fragile Afghan state which is in the midst of a political crisis over the appointment of a new president to succeed Hamid Karzai, who has led the country for 13 years.</p>
<p>Taliban militants today attacked an Afghan intelligence service office in the eastern city of Jalalabad, killing at least three people in a bomb and gun assault, officials said.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"The attack was carried out by a vehicle bomb on the Nangarhar provincial NDS office, and then some militants started attacking the office," Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the Nangarhar provincial governor, told AFP.<br /><br />"Nangarhar NDS (National Directorate of Security) told us at least three of their employees were killed in the attack."<br /><br />The militants and NDS employees exchanged fire early today.<br /><br />The head of Nangarhar public hospital told AFP they had received six bodies.<br /><br />"Six dead bodies and 46 wounded were brought to the hospital -- 26 of them are admitted and the rest were discharged," doctor Najeebullah Kamawal said, adding the injuries were due to flying glass.<br /><br />Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in an email statement to the media, claiming several NDS agents were killed in the attack.<br /><br />The intelligence service has regularly been targeted by the militants.<br /><br />In December 2012, NDS head Asadullah Khalid was seriously wounded in an attack by a Taliban "envoy" who detonated an explosive device hidden in his underwear.<br /><br />The militants have stepped up attacks on symbols of power in recent weeks, seeing to destabilise the fragile Afghan state which is in the midst of a political crisis over the appointment of a new president to succeed Hamid Karzai, who has led the country for 13 years.</p>