Bomber targets Afghan MPs

A suicide bomber has killed at least 30 people, including three parliamentarians, in northern Afghanistan, according to the interior ministry.

However, some MPs have said that more than 60 people died when the bomb was detonated at a sugar factory in the province of Baghlan on Tuesday.

Abdurrahman Sayedkhail, Baghlan's intelligence chief, told the Reuters news agency that the number of casualties was so high it was impossible to give an accurate number for now.

Kamin Khan, a police official, said that people "everywhere" were wounded, including police, children, MPs and officials from the department of agriculture.

Al Jazeera's Hamish McDonald in Kabul said that a delegation of Afghanistan's parliamentary finance committee was visiting the factory when the bomber struck.

Large crowds of residents and schoolchildren had gathered at the factory for the visit of the MPs.

Nightmare

"I saw bodies lying in the streets and some of the people were stealing the weapons of the dead soldiers. Children are screaming for help. It's like a nightmare," Mohammad Rahim, a local resident who said the blast had killed his two cousins, said.

"This is the act of the enemies of the people of Afghanistan"

Homayun Hamidzada, president's spokesmanThe delegation of parliamentary deputies was led by Mostafa Kazemi, the opposition spokesman, a provincial spokesman said. It included about 18 MPs, Daud Sultanzai, a parliamentarian in Kabul, said