Taliban suicide bombers hit Afghan intelligence agency

Afghan security forces arrive at the site of an attack in the city of Jalalabad August 30, 2014. REUTERS/Parwiz

JALALABAD Afghanistan (Reuters) - Taliban suicide bombs hit an office of the Afghan intelligence agency in an eastern city on Saturday, killing six people, and insurgents shot dead another 11 in the west, in an upsurge of violence as foreign combat troops prepare to withdraw from the country.

Seven militants were also killed during several hours of heavy fighting with Afghan security forces at the Jalalabad headquarters of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), said Ahmad Zeya Abdulzai, a spokesman for the governor of eastern Nangarhar province near the border with Pakistan.