SHARAN, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- At least 20 people were killed on Sunday evening when three suicide bombers rammed a truck full of explosives into a road construction company building in southeastern Afghanistan, the government and insurgents said on Monday.

The Ministry of Interior said in a statement on Monday that the attack happened at a building of the Zahir Road Construction Company in the Bermal district of Paktika province. It said the attack took place at around 8.10 p.m. local time on Sunday.

The Ministry said preliminary reports indicate that the attackers first shot dead a security guard at the gate of the company before proceeding, crashing their truck filled with explosives into the building. The Taliban said the truck was carrying 4.5 tonnes of explosives.

"As a result of this attack, 20 people were killed and 50 others were injured," the statement said, adding that they were all employees of the road construction company. "The Interior Ministry has strongly condemned this terrorist act."

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the attack killed 27 NATO and Afghan soldiers, a claim rejected by Afghan and NATO officials. The insurgent group however is known to frequently exaggerate statements for propaganda purposes.

"As many as 27 NATO and their local puppets were killed and 27 more were terribly injured in a martyrdom attack carried out by Ali Ahmad, a brave Mujahid of the Islamic Emirate in Barmal district of Paktika province," Zabihullah Mujahid said. He falsely claimed that the attack targeted a joint ISAF-NATO base.

"ISAF service members responded to the scene after the attack," a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. "No ISAF service members were killed in the attack."

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