Television footage shows bomb blast victims lying on a street in the town of Baghlan in northern Afghanistan Nov. 6, 2007. A suicide attack on a parliamentary delegation killed at least 50 people in the town on Tuesday, a provincial official said, in the worst such blast in the country's history.(Reuters Photo)
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    KABUL, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- A suicide bomb blast killed and injured more than 100 people, including six parliamentarians in northern Afghan province of Baglan on Tuesday afternoon, local officials said.

    "A group of parliamentarians were visiting a sugar factory in Baghlan province when a suicide attacker detonated a bomb," Abdulrahman Sayed Khali, provincial police chief, told Xinhua.

    Baghlan lies about 150 km north of Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan.

    According to parliamentary sources, 13 of the 18 deputies who were part of the delegation had been killed or injured.

    "Six parliamentarians were killed, including Mustafa Kazimi, a well-known member of parliament and a former commerce minister," Khali said.

    Many school children were among the dead because they were welcoming parliamentarians at gate of factory, he added.

    Sayed Mohammad Amin Fadimi, Minister for Public Health, told Xinhua that about 50 people were killed and 100 to 150 others were injured in the blast, and the number of casualties were still expected to rise further.

    A helicopter was sent from Kabul to evacuate some of the wounded, according to local officials.

    Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, condemned the attack as "terroristic."

    He also expressed his deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims and prayed for the full and speedy recovery of the injured.

    There were no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. However, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, said, "It's a really bad incident, but Taliban has nothing to do with that."

    Conflicts and Taliban-related violence have claimed the lives of more than 5,500 people mostly insurgents so far this year in the war-torn Afghanistan, according to officials.

    UN chief condemns deadly suicide attack in Afghanistan

    UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned on Tuesday the suicide attack that killed more than 40 civilians and injured scores of others in the northern Afghan town of Baghlan, one of the deadliest the war-torn nation has witnessed in recent years. 

    U.S. condemns "despicable" attack in Afghanistan

    WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- The United States condemned on Tuesday a devastating suicide bombing in Afghanistan as "a despicable act of cowardice" and vowed to keep working with the NATO to fight against extremists and terrorists. 

    NATO condemns suicide bombing in Afghanistan

    BRUSSELS, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- NATO vehemently condemned Tuesday the suicide bomb attack in the northern Afghan town of Baghlan, causing 100 casualties. 

    Germany condemns Afghan suicide bombing

    BERLIN, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Germany condemned the suicide bombing that killed dozens of people in northern Afghan province of Baghlan on Tuesday afternoon and called for punishment of those behind the attack.

Afghan parliamentarian and opposition spokesman Mostafa Kazemi is seen in this undated photograph in Afghanistan. A suicide bomber killed 90 people and wounded 50 on Nov. 6, 2007, in an attack on a group of visiting Afghan parliamentarians in the northern Afghan town of Baghlan, the director of the local hospital said. Five parliamentarians, including opposition spokesman Mostafa Kazemi, were among those killed, the provincial governor said. Baghlan's intelligence chief, Abdurrahman Sayedkhail, said the number of casualties was so high it was impossible to give an accurate number for now. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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