JALALABAD, Afghanistan: The governor of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province survived an assassination attempt on Monday which saw one of his attackers gunned down in a shoot-out, an official said.

Two gunmen armed with AK-47 machine guns and hand grenades carried out the attack at an information technology conference near the governor's office in the city of Jalalabad, said a provincial government spokesman.

As Governor Gul Agha Sherzai arrived at the venue's entrance in his motorcade, one of the attackers dropped a hand grenade from a second-floor window, Ahmad Zai Abdulzai said.

'It was an attack against the governor as it took place as he arrived,' he told AFP. 'The governor survived the attack unhurt,' he added.

Exchanges of fire then erupted between police and the attackers which resulted in the killing of one of the gunmen. The second attacker was arrested, officials said.

Interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP: 'Police gunned down one attacker and arrested a second attacker alive.' But Bashary declined to confirm it was an assassination bid, saying the target of the attack was not clear and the police were investigating.

The provincial hospital told AFP that one policeman was also wounded in the attack.

Sherzai is a former cabinet minister and one-time governor of southern Kandahar province -- the stronghold of the Taliban militia -- who is seen as close to President Hamid Karzai.

Nangarhar is one of the largest and most prosperous provinces in Afghanistan and shares a long border with Pakistan. –AFP