KABUL, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A suicide attacker with explosive materials under his clothes broke into a government building in southwestern Afghan province of Nimruz and exploded himself, killing three people and injuring another on Saturday, provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad said.

    "It was around 11.a.m. local time when a man strapping explosive devices in his body entered the office of Mohammad AnwarShah, the chief of intelligence in the province and blew himself up, killing Shah and two others on the spot," Azad told Xinhua.

    The incident took place in the provincial capital Zaranj during which the suicide bomber was also killed, he added.

    One of the victim is Shah's son while the other is a government employee associated with intelligence service, he added.

    A guard of Anwar Shah was injured while his office was destroyed in the explosion, Azad said.

    Meantime, Taliban militants fighting the Afghan government have claimed responsibility for the attack.

    Qari Yusuf Ahmadi who claims to speak for Taliban insurgents in talks with media from an unknown location said that one Taliban fighter from Helmand province carried out the suicide attack and killed the intelligence chief.

    Taliban insurgents who staged a violent comeback three years ago have intensified their activities targeting Afghan and international troops across Afghanistan to mount pressure on the government despite around 70,000 foreign troops stationed in the war-torn country vowing to keep peace and help reconstruction here.

    Conflicts and spiraling insurgency have claimed the lives of over 3,700 people so far this year.