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(CNN) -- A suicide bomber killed the governor of Afghanistan's southeastern Paktia province on Sunday afternoon as he was leaving his office, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
Gov. Abdul Hakim Taniwal's bodyguard and his secretary were also killed when the suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body while standing next to the governor's car.
The blast also wounded three police officers near Taniwal's office in Gardez, the provincial capital, the spokesman said.
The attack follows a dramatic rise in Taliban-led militants violence in Afghanistan this year, including suicide bombings.
On Friday, a bomber in a car rammed into a U.S. military convoy near the U.S. Embassy, killing 16 people in one of the deadliest suicide attacks since the fall of the hardline Islamic regime in late 2001.
A purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for Friday's attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assassination of the Paktia governor, The Associated Press said.
Meanwhile, NATO-led troops said they have killed 94 insurgents in southern Afghanistan during action in 24-hours of fighting as part of a major military operation.
The clashes came as Operation Medusa, during a NATO offensive against Taliban rebels in Kandahar province, entered its eighth day.
The operation is being spearheaded by Canadian International Security Assistance Force troops backed by Afghan soldiers.
ISAF troops disrupted militant re-supply routes around Panjwayi and Zhari districts, quashed an attack mitigated against troops using air support and small-arms fire and "steadily and incrementally (eroded) the insurgent's ability to continue to fight," a statement said.
Sunday's fighting comes a day after more than 40 insurgents and two coalition soldiers were killed in action.
The nationalities of the soldiers -- both members of Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix -- were not released. CJTF-Phoenix is primarily made up of U.S. military personnel.
One of the soldiers killed was mistakenly reported as an ISAF soldier, but the NATO force issued a news release on Sunday that identified the casualty as a member of an embedded training team working with Afghan soldiers in support of Operation Medusa in Panjwayi.
The other coalition soldier -- also part of an embedded training team -- was killed while supporting Afghan soldiers in the southeastern Zabul province.
More than 330 insurgents and at least five Canadian soldiers have been killed in Medusa so far, according to NATO. Statements from the Taliban and the Afghan government say the figure is lower.
There are about 19,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, of which about 1,000 are American. About 6,000 of the NATO troops are in the south. NATO forces in the south include British, Canadian, Dutch and American troops.
In addition to the NATO troops, the United States has another 20,000 troops under American command. Medusa is designed to oust the insurgency in certain districts "so that displaced residents can return to their homes, allowing much-needed reconstruction and development projects to take place in relative stability," NATO said.
The latest fighting comes as NATO members meeting in Poland agreed that more troops were needed in Afghanistan
On Friday, NATO's top commander called on alliance members meeting in Poland to commit 2,000 more troops to Afghanistan to help quell the insurgency, which has escalated beyond expectations when NATO took command of the volatile south from a U.S.-led coalition last month.
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