Kabul , Afghanistan ( CNN ) -- The number of people killed when militants stormed an election commission office in the Afghan capital Tuesday has risen to five , a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry said . The victims were two police officers , two election commission workers and a provincial council candidate , said spokesman Sediq Sediqqi in Kabul . Eight others were injured , including four police officers and four election commission staff , Seddiqi said . After a five-hour gunbattle with Afghan security services , the five militants who carried out the attack were also killed , he said , bringing the violence to an end . Two militants blew themselves up as they entered the compound in the Darul Aman area , he said , while the remaining three went into the election commission building . `` The attackers would have killed a lot of innocent people , as there were 70 people working in that building , if the Afghan security forces had n't engaged them in the armed fight from outside , '' Sediqqi said . The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack , which comes less than two weeks before Afghanistan holds presidential elections . Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in an e-mail that the group 's armed suicide attackers had managed to enter the election commission office after causing a large explosion . The election commission office is near the home of presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani , but his house did not appear to be the target of the attack . He was campaigning Tuesday in eastern Paktia province . The Taliban have vowed to use force to disrupt the April 5 presidential vote . The group also claimed an attack last week on the central Serena Hotel in which nine people died , some Afghans and some foreigners . Six people were also injured . Among those killed were Sardar Ahmad , a senior reporter for the Agence France-Presse news agency , his wife and two of his three young children . Official : Suicide bombers attack bank . In other violence Tuesday , at least five people were killed and 16 more injured when suicide bombers attacked a bank in Asadabad , the center of Afghanistan 's eastern Kunar province . Abdul Ghani Musamim , spokesman for Kunar 's provincial governor , told CNN three insurgents stormed a branch of Kabul Bank , where police and other governmental workers had gathered to receive their salaries . One detonated his explosives vest in front of the bank , while two others entered the building . One also blew himself up , and Afghan security forces shot the third attacker , Musamim said . Two police officers , a soldier , a private security guard for the bank and a government worker were killed . The 16 injured included members of the security forces and civilians . Afghan journalist and family slain at hotel mourned . Official : 9 civilians die in attack on Kabul luxury hotel . CNN 's Masoud Popalzai reported from Kabul , with Laura Smith-Spark writing in London . CNN 's Aliza Kassim and journalist Qadir Seddiqi contributed to this report .
NEW : Five people lost their lives in the attack ; five militants also killed , Afghan Interior Ministry says . The gunbattle between Taliban militants and Afghan security services lasted five hours . The militants stormed a local election commission office in the Afghan capital , Kabul . The attack comes less than two weeks before the country 's April 5 presidential election .