KABUL- At least seven people, including six policemen, were killed and 13 wounded when a suicide bomber attacked a governor's compound in western Afghanistan Thursday, officials said.

Police spokesman Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said a civilian was among the seven dead as nine civilians, including two women and a one-year-old child, and four police personnel were among the wounded.

The spokesperson said four attackers were also killed in the gun fight that ensued in Farah, a strategic province bordering Iran. He said one of the attackers blew himself up at the gate of the compound after detonating an explosive laden vest and the other three were killed while fighting their way in.

They were shot dead after a gun battle lasting nearly an hour.

Police said the insurgents were armed with rocket propelled grenades, hand grenades and small arms.

Farah Deputy Governor Mohammad Yunos Rasuli said that the attackers wore police uniforms. The deputy governor claimed to have gunned down two of the attackers before he was himself wounded in the gunfire.

"I emboldened the police and others till the last breath. I killed two of them and rescued myself, His Excellency the governor and some 10 to 12 elders and officials. I and my son were hit by bullets. God saved us," he told Afghanistan's Channel One TV.

Taliban insurgents have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Rasuli feared that the death toll in Thursday's bombing may go up.

"They did not show mercy and shot everyone who came across - the office caretaker, a cleaner and others," he said.

Government offices are frequently targeted by the Taliban. Four people were killed and five wounded when a group of six suicide bombers in police uniforms similarly attacked the governor's office in Paktika province in southeastern Afghanistan a week ago.

Last month two Taliban fighters stormed into the governor's compound in Kandahar, sparking a 30-minute gun battle in which both were killed.