KABUL, December 29 (RIA Novosti) - Two people were killed and 17 injured in a suicide car bomb attack near the Parwan province governor's office on Monday morning, an Afghan official told journalists.

Health Ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim said that the terrorist's target was U.S. military personnel holding their weekly meeting with Afghan officials in the provincial capital, Charikar, 50 kilometers north of the capital, Kabul.

"The terrorist detonated his suicide bomb outside the Parwan province governor's office. We have two people who are killed and 17 people are wounded," the spokesman said. "All of the victims were civilians," he said.

Two U.S. soldiers inside the compound were among the wounded, the U.S military said.

The opposition Islamic Party of Afghanistan (IPA) has already taken responsibility for the terrorist attack. An IPA spokesman said that the suicide bomber's name was Saifullah, a resident of the Baglan province.

The incident is the latest in a year that has seen militant violence in Afghanistan escalate to its highest level since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government, and follows a car bombing on Sunday that killed 16 people, including 14 schoolchildren, in the western province of Herat.