A suicide bomber on foot blew himself up outside a compound for security contractors in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing two Americans and five Afghans, officials and witnesses said.
The bomber hit the men as they came out of the Kandahar compound of the USPI security company, said Rohullah Khan an official with the company. Three others were wounded, he said.
The area where the attack happened is located opposite the Canadian Provincial Reconstruction Team inside Kandahar city. The blast was the sixth suicide attack in Kandahar province in the last nine days.
Provincial police chief Asmatullah Alizai said that two foreigners, four Afghan policemen and a translator were killed.
USPI employee Mohammad Aszal said the two foreign victims were American.
Near-daily attacks plague Afghanistan's lawless southern provinces — the former stronghold of the hardline Taliban regime, where the central government wields little power.
Taliban rebels have launched a record number of suicide and roadside bombs this year.
A growing insurgency, especially in the country's south and east, has left close to 4,000 people dead.