About 40 people were wounded Monday when a Taliban suicide bomber detonated a truck carrying one tonne of explosives at the gate of a government complex in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

"Around 1,000 kilograms of explosives were used in the attack" in Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, provincial police chief Mirwais Noorzai told AFP.

"Around 40 people were wounded in the suicide attack on the complex" which includes the provincial council building, he added.