Afghan security personnel inspect the site of an attack on Afghan army base in Gardez, capital of Paktia province on May 14, 2020. The Taliban said it carried out a deadly attack on May 14 on an Afghan army base after the government ordered forces to resume strikes against the militants. (STR / AFP)

JALALABAD/KABUL — A truck packed with explosives blew up near a court in the eastern Afghan city of Gardez on Thursday, killing at least five people in an attack claimed by Taliban insurgents.

The explosion comes two days after at least 56 people were killed in attacks elsewhere in the country, including women and newborn babies, dealing a setback to peace plans in the war-ravaged nation.

Map of Afghanistan locating Gardez in the eastern Paktia province where a deadly attack was carried out on an army base on Thursday, claimed by the Taliban. (MAP / AFP)

The explosion occurred after a car bomb was detonated outside the provincial military court and provincial finance and tax offices in a populated neighborhood in Gardez at morning rush hour

Tariq Arian, an interior ministry spokesman

“The explosion occurred after a car bomb was detonated outside the provincial military court and provincial finance and tax offices in a populated neighborhood in Gardez at morning rush hour. Dozens of people were affected in the incident,” said Tariq Arian, an interior ministry spokesman.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a statement said the rebel group was responsible for the attack.

Emal Khan Momand, a military spokesman in Paktia province where Gardez is located, said the attack was carried out by a truck packed with explosives. Five people were killed, and 14 were wounded, he said.

A provincial official said five people were killed and 46 people were wounded.

 "The explosion occurred at morning rush hour roughly at 08:30 (local time). The blast sent a thick gray smoke to rise above the site. The number of the people affected in the incident may change," the provincial official told Xinhua anonymously.

"The terrorist tried to assault a provincial directorate of the Ministry of Defense but he was intercepted by the army soldiers. Then the attacker detonated the truck bomb near the facility and affected nearby provincial military court and provincial finance and tax offices," he said.

The blast also caused massive destruction, destroying several building, shops and vehicles, according to the source.

It is the latest in a spate of such attacks when Afghans are observing the fasting month of Ramadan.

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The blast comes after a violent week in which gunmen attacked a maternity hospital in Kabul, killing 24 people, including new mothers and newborn babies, on Tuesday. A suicide blast claimed by the Islamic State at a funeral in eastern Nangahar on the same day killed 32.

President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attacks and said he had ordered the military to switch to offensive mode rather than the defensive stance it had adopted as the United States withdraws troops and tries to broker talks with the Taliban.

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The Taliban has denied any involvement in the attacks, but the government has accused the group of fostering an environment in which terrorism thrives or working with other militant groups who could have been involved, straining efforts by the United States to bring the insurgents and the Afghan government together.

With Xinhua inputs