Five people were killed and over 12 more were injured as a suicide bombing rocked Afghanistan Ministry of Information and Culture in the capital city of Kabul Thursday morning.

"The suicide attack happened around 10:30 a.m. (0600 GMT) when the enemies of Afghanistan carried out a cowardly terrorist attack inside the Ministry of Information and Culture, resulting in a number of employees being killed or injured," said a statement issued by media and information center of the Presidential Palace.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is on a visit to Turkey attending the World Economic Forum on Europe and Asia, said in a separate statement released later that the attack was another attempt by the enemies of Afghanistan to undermine peace and security.

Five civilians, according to the press release of Presidential Palace, were killed in the bloody bombing while Abdullah Fahim, the spokesman of Public Health Ministry told Xinhua over 12 injured people have been sent to hospital and received first aid there.

Moreover, Karzai extended his thoughts and prayers to the victims of this attack and offered his condolences to the grieved families.

Afghan government also denounced in the statement that "it is a cowardly attack and the Taliban once again remind us of their complete disregard for and hostility toward Afghanistan's noble cultural heritage and traditional values."

Taliban militants fighting Afghan government has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Zabihullah Mujahid who claims to speak for the militants told media outlets from unknown locations via telephone that a fighter named Naqibullah after opening fire outside the building broke into the building and blew himself up causing huge casualties.

Mujahid added that there were three attackers carrying out the assault but he did not say about the fate of the remaining two.

The radical Taliban outfit carried out a deadly suicide car blast targeting Indian embassy on July 7 leaving over 50 including two Indian diplomats dead and 141 more injured, mostly civilians.

Spiraling conflicts and Taliban-linked insurgency have claimed around 5,000 people with over 1500 civilians so far this year in Afghanistan while Taliban insurgents have vowed to intensify assaults against interests of Afghan government and international troops before the coming winter.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2008)