Militants set off a suicide blast on Wednesday morning and stormed a construction company near the airport in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, officials said Wednesday. The dawn assault triggered an hours-long gunbattle with local officers, drawing in U.S. forces to assist the Afghan troops in the shootout. Among those killed were employees of the Afghan construction company EBE and a military intelligence officer, said Attahullah Khogyani, the provincial governor's spokesperson. He said nine other people were wounded in the attack, which lasted more than five hours. The Taliban and ISIS have been carrying out near-daily attacks across Afghanistan in recent  years.