The bombers were wearing explosives-packed vests beneath traditional women's all-covering dress and opened fire on guards at the gates of International Relief and Development (IRD) in Lashkar Gah, the officials said.
Burqa suicide bombers killed in Afghan town: govt
"The two suicide bombers were shot and killed by the IRD guards, luckily their explosives did not explode," provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi told AFP.
Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, is 20 kilometres (12 miles) away from a major US-led offensive testing a new counter-insurgency strategy aimed at wiping out the Taliban and drug-trafficking cartels.
The interior ministry said no one else was killed in the thwarted attack, which happened at 9.30 am (0500 GMT).
"Two (male) suicide bombers... started firing on the police guards and in a return of fire by the national police within moments, both suicide attackers were killed," a ministry statement said.
"In this incident no harm was caused to anyone else and only the suicide attackers were killed," it said, adding that police seized two assault rifles and two suicide vests filled with explosives.
IRD implements projects on behalf of the US Agency for International Development, Ahmadi said, including helping farmers market their products, improving food security and other agriculture-related projects.
Helmand is a hotbed for the Taliban, who have been waging an increasingly virulent insurgency since their regime was overthrown in the 2001 US-led invasion following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
The United States and NATO are raising to 150,000 the number of foreign troops in Afghanistan by August under a strategy marrying military and civilian efforts to eradicate the militant presence and establish Afghan sovereignty.
The strategy is currently being tested in Helmand's Marjah and Nad Ali districts, where poppy-production is controlled by Taliban and drug traffickers in areas that have long been outside government control.
Operation Mushtarak, or "together," is regarded by military planners as an initial success, but a Western official told AFP that it will be many months yet before it is clear if the Taliban have receded for good.
NATO said two foreign soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan by a crude bomb on Tuesday, although it did not say where.
The bombs, known as IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, are the main weapon used by Taliban rebels, though suicide attacks are becoming more common.
On Saturday, 35 people were killed in the southern city of Kandahar in one of the biggest coordinated suicide assaults claimed by the Taliban since their insurgency began more than eight years ago.
The militia said the attack was a pre-emptive response to plans by Afghan and NATO forces to widen anti-insurgent operations in Kandahar.
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