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KANDAHAR - A suicide bomber attacked the office of a US-owned security company in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing seven people, including two Americans, officials said.
The Taleban claimed responsibility for the blast outside the office of the Houston-based US Protection and Investigations (USPI) in Kandahar city.
"The bomber was questioned by a security guard as to where he was going, in front of the office, and he blew himself up among company employees," Kandahar's police chief Esmatullah Alizai told reporters.
The employees had gathered for a regular morning briefing outside their office, which is opposite a base of Afghanistan's Nato security force.
Two of the victims were Americans working for the company. Five Afghans and the bomber were also killed.
The company provides guards for foreign companies working on construction and infrastructure projects.
Afghanistan this year has been plunged into the bloodiest period of violence since US-led troops overthrew the Taleban's radical Islamic Government in 2001.
It was the third suicide bomb attack in the city this week. About 105 suicide bomb attacks this year have killed nearly 250 people, mostly civilians, according to the Nato force.
- REUTERS
