KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - - A bomb blew up a small electricity department building in southern Afghanistan's troubled Helmand province Saturday, killing two people and wounding eight, police said.


The insurgent Taliban movement said it had planted the bomb in the Gereshk district in an attempt to kill the district police chief, Razak Khan, who regularly held meetings there.

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi claimed Khan was among the wounded in the blast but officials could not immediately confirm he had even been there.

The attackers had somehow been able to pass through security outside the building to plant the bomb, Helmand province police commander, General Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, told AFP.

"How it happened, we don't know but some explosives were planted inside the building which caused the explosion," he said.

"As a result of the explosion, two employees of the department have been killed, six other employees and two civilians have been wounded."

One of the wounded was the head of the Gereshk power department, said Tahir Rasouli, head of the local hospital.

The one-storey building, made from traditional mudbrick, collapsed after the blast, which caused scores of people to flock to the site, a witness named Fida Mohammad said.

"People and police are cleaning up the rubble," he said. Mohammad said he had seen three bodies pulled from the debris.

The building, about 200 metres from a small hyrdopower plant, was where people came to pay their electricity bills or contact officials about their power supply.

The extremist Taliban, which frequently carry out bombings as part of their insurgency, is most active in Helmand, Afghanistan's largest province which also produces most of its huge illegal opium crop.

The Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001, when they were ousted for harbouring Al-Qaeda leaders.

The militants target Afghan and international security forces as well as government officials and institutions.

The insurgency was in its deadliest last year with more than 8,000 people killed, according to figures used by the United Nations. This included about 1,500 civilians although most of the dead were rebel fighters.

Afghan and international officials say these fighters include jobless young men who carry out attacks for income and others who are trained in radical religious schools in Pakistan.

The government is trying to find ways to bring Afghan fighters onto its side, including by promoting economic growth and dialogue.

British Defence Secretary Des Browne said in a newspaper interview published Saturday that Britain should reach out to elements of the Taliban who can be won over to democracy.

Britain is the second largest contributor to a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force and has most of its 7,500 soldiers here based in Helmand.