Armed Taliban militants wearing suicide vests stormed a building in an Afghan provincial capital on Monday, sparking a gun battle with police, officials said. The militants seized a building near police headquarters in Gardez, capital of eastern Paktia province, at about 9:00 am (0430 GMT) and began firing at security forces as they surrounded the building, an official said. At least two militants were killed during Monday's incident, a spokesman for the interior ministry told AFP in the capital Kabul. One was shot while trying to run at the security forces, but his explosives-packed vest detonated. "The explosives he had on his body exploded after our security forces opened fired at him," the ministry's Zemarai Bashary said, adding that a second militant was also shot dead later. A gun battle was under way, he added. A local government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident. "There is ongoing fighting between security forces and the terrorists," the official said, speaking from Gardez by telephone. A purported Taliban spokesman, speaking from an unknown location, said it was a Taliban operation. The Taliban are waging an insurgency against the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai and the 113,000 US and NATO troops in the country.