KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber attacked the office of a US-owned security company in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday killing eight people, including two Americans, a government and company official said.

British troops in Afghanistan. The British Ministry of Defence said that two British soldier were wounded, one of them fatally, during a battle Tuesday with Taliban guerrillas in southern Afghanistan.[AFP]

The blast took place at the office of the USPI security company in Kandahar, they said. The company provides guards to protect foreign companies working on construction and infrastructure projects.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said the bomber set off his explosives among a crowd of people standing outside the office waiting to go in to work.

Akhtar Mohammad, a USPI employee, said among those killed was the head of the company's Kandahar office, who he identified as Mr Jack, AIP reported.

Afghanistan this year has plunged into the bloodiest period of violence since US-led troops overthrew the Taliban's radical Islamic government in 2001.

About 105 suicide bomb attacks this year have killed nearly 250 people, according to Afghanistan's NATO security force.