Three suicide bombers have killed 20 people in an attack on a construction firm in a restive province in southeastern Afghanistan.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.
An interior ministry statement said the attackers forced their way into the firm's compound after killing a security guard and then detonated a truck packed with explosives.
‘As a result, 20 employees of the construction company were killed and 50 others were injured,’ the statement said.
Mohebullah Sameem, governor of southeastern Paktika province, earlier put the death toll from the attack in the remote Bermel district at 13.
He said the dead and wounded included employees of the firm and other civilians.
Construction crews and others working on infrastructure projects are frequently targeted by insurgents.
Bermel shares a long border with lawless areas of neighbouring Pakistan, where insurgents are said to have safe havens from which they launch attacks inside Afghanistan.
In an emailed statement to media, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the Islamist group had carried out the attack but said it had been on a military base and that 49 foreign and Afghan troops had been killed and wounded.
Taliban insurgents often inflate casualties inflicted on Afghan government forces and foreign troops.
Violence across Afghanistan last year reached its worst levels since the Taliban were ousted by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001, with civilian and military casualties hitting record levels.
The violence underscores the challenges ahead as US and NATO forces begin to hand over security responsibility to Afghan troops, allowing foreign troops to withdraw gradually.
The process, announced last week, will begin with the handover of seven areas in July and culminate in the withdrawal of all foreign combat troops by 2014.
