JALALABAD, Afghanistan -- At least 15 people were killed and 42 others wounded in a Taliban suicide car bombing outside a district office in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province on Saturday, a local government spokesman said.

"The incident occurred when a terrorist detonated a mini-truck outside the intelligence agency office, near the district main office in Shinwar district at midday. The blast also caused destruction," spokesman Attahullah Khogiani told Xinhua.

Among the killed were one soldier and 14 civilians, including a woman and four children, he said.

"Those among the wounded were four soldiers. The wounded were shifted to hospitals in Shinwar and provincial capital Jalalabad city. Unfortunately some of the wounded remained in critical condition," he added.

"After the massive blast, armed militants tried to enter the offices and take control of the buildings, but the security forces killed all attackers before they found their ways inside," Khogiani said.

The number of the assailants was not immediately known, however, a security official in the district told Xinhua that five militants were involved in the attack in the region, 120 km east of Afghanistan's capital Kabul.

Provincial Governor Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhil has condemned the attack and ordered the security forces to arrest and bring to justice the perpetrators, according to the spokesman.

In an unrelated incident, two personnel of National Directorate for Security (NDS), the country's national intelligence agency, were shot dead in the neighboring Khost province Saturday, a provincial source told Xinhua.

"Shahzada Khan, chief of district intelligence office of Nadir Shah Kot district, and one of his colleagues were killed by gunmen in neighboring Mandozai district when they were on the way," the source said, blaming Taliban militants for the latest targeted killing.

Fighting rages across Afghanistan as Taliban militants have been attempting to take territory and consolidate their position as peace talks between the Afghan government delegation and Taliban representatives were underway in Doha, capital of the Gulf state Qatar.