Afghan suicide bomber strikes in Baghlan province

A suicide bomber has killed at least 14 people in northern Afghanistan's Baghlan province, including a senior local politician, police say.

Haji Rasool Khan Mohseni was the head of the provincial council.

Police officials told the BBC that an attacker wearing police uniform detonated a suicide vest at the gate of the council's headquarters in Baghlan's capital Pul-e Khomri.

At least nine people were injured in the attack.

The BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says Mr Rasool had been a key anti-Taliban figure in the province.

The bomber arrived on foot and targeted Mr Rasool, police say.

"He was basically waiting for his target," Baghlan deputy police chief Mohammed Sadeq Muradi told the Associated Press news agency.

Several of the dead were police guards; others were civilians waiting to speak to the politician.

Mr Rasool had received multiple death threats, a member of parliament for Baghlan, Mohammad Zahier Ghanizada, told AP.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a statement, Afghan President Hamid Karzai described the bombing as "a cowardly act," and described the killing of civilians as "anti-Islamic and inhuman."