Taliban insurgents blew up a power station in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on Saturday, killing two people and wounding eight, police said.

The power station, in the district of Girishk, is the main source of electricity for people in the area.

"Two employees of the station were killed and six people were wounded in the explosion," said provincial police chief, Hussain Andiwal.

"The building was damaged but the power supply machinery is safe," he said.

Taliban militants planted hundreds of roadside bombs and conducted scores of suicide bomb attacks in 2007 in Afghanistan, contributing to a record year of violence that killed 6,000 people, nearly 2,000 of them civilians.

The militants, fighting to expel foreign forces and bring down the Western-backed government, have also attacked infrastructure projects.

The Afghan government and its Western backers hope they can undermine any support for the Taliban by providing basic services such as power, roads and water for irrigation, as well as security.-Reuters