CHARIKAR (AFP) – A gun and suicide attack on an Afghan governor’s compound killed 19 people on Sunday in the latest Taliban assault spotlighting the militants’ power just outside the capital Kabul.

Abdul Basir Salangi, the governor of Parwan province, told a local television channel during the siege that six suicide bombers had stormed the main provincial administration.

“I’m inside,” Salangi said, referring to the compound that houses his office and other administrators in the provincial capital of Charikar about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Kabul.

The governor is a prominent anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance commander who fought tough battles with the Taliban when they were in power from 1996 until the 2001 US-led invasion evicted them from government.

Interior ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqi told AFP that 14 civilians and five police were killed on Sunday, with another 37 people wounded.

Salangi later told reporters that one of the would-be bombers was detained after being “mistakenly evacuated to hospital for his injuries”.

Abdul Khalil Farhangi, a doctor at the local Charikar hospital said 16 dead and nearly 30 other people with injuries had been admitted to his hospital. Some of the injured were flown to Kabul for further treatment, he added.

Siddiqi said the attack began after insurgents detonated a suicide car bomb at the entrance of the compound, killing guards and allowing the other attackers to storm the heavily-guarded premises.

The governor and other provincial officials gathered for a security meeting when the attack began at 11:00 am (0630 GMT), police said.

“Five suicide bombers broke into the compound and a gunfight erupted,” Parwan provincial police chief Sher Mohammad Maladani told AFP.

The police chief said the attack lasted for more than an hour.

During a series of explosions, parts of one of the buildings in the compound caught fire, witnesses said.

At least two US military officials, described as “advisers”, were also present but were “absolutely fine,” Maladani said.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul said it provided helicopters to evacuate the wounded.

ISAF said that one of its soldiers was killed Sunday in an insurgent attack. Contacted by AFP, a military spokesman declined to provide details and specify if the soldier had died in the Parwan attack.

The Taliban militia, leading a 10-year insurgency against the Western-backed government and 140,000 US-led foreign troops, claimed responsibility.

Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahed told AFP that the attack was carried out “by our suicide and devout fighters”.

Parwan has long been thought to be one of the safest regions in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion brought down the Taliban regime.

The surrounding farming plains are also home to Bagram, the biggest US military base in Afghanistan.

But it was the second time that Salangi’s compound as been targeted. Last June, a suicide bomber killed two civilians at the outer gate.

On August 5, the Taliban shot down a US helicopter in Wardak province, killing 38 troops in the worst single American loss of life in the war and underlining their grip on territory an hour’s drive southwest of the capital.

In recent years, the rebels have honed the technique of coordinated attacks in which multiple gunmen and suicide bombers fight their way into government buildings and security facilities before setting off their bombs.

US-led NATO combat troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and handover control to Afghan security forces.