JALALABAD, Afghanistan - At least five civilians were injured as a bomb targeting a government employees' bus went off Monday morning in Jalalabad city, the provincial capital of eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, a police source said.

"An Improvised Explosive Device was placed in a rickshaw parked in a road in Masjedi Eidgah area and was detonated by a remote control device at around 8 am local time when a bus carrying government employees was running in the area," a police official in Jalalabad city, who declined to be named, told Xinhua.

The area was cordoned off by security forces for fear of another blast.

The police official said an investigation was underway and more details would be released to the media by authorized officials later in the day.  

Violence has been on the rise since Taliban launched an annual spring offensive on May 3.

The armed outfit has said anyone working for the government and the NATO-led troops are legitimate targets.

A total of eight people were killed and five others injured when a bomb exploded near a gov't bus in Paghman district of capital city of Kabul on Tuesday August 7.