A suicide and gun attack on a Kabul government compound killed at least 43 people, an official said on Tuesday, in the latest bloody violence to strike the Afghan capital.

Another 10 were wounded in Monday's raid on a site where the Ministry of Public Works and other offices are located, spokesman Waheed Majroh said.

Gunmen stormed the compound mid-afternoon after detonating a car bomb at the entrance, sending terrifying government workers running for their lives. 

Some jumped from the windows. Hundreds more were trapped inside buildings as security forces swarmed the area, engaging in a fierce gun battle with the attackers. 

At least four militants, including the suicide bomber, were killed and more than 350 people freed, officials said. 

Monday's attack was one of the deadliest assaults on the Afghan capital this year, since a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a religious gathering last month, killing at least 55 people.