KABUL, May 20: A suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform killed 14 people, including a prominent provincial council chief, outside the council headquarters in northern Afghanistan on Monday, authorities said.

The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack.

Baghlan provincial council leader Mohammad Rasoul Mohseni was entering the compound in the provincial capital of Pul-e-Khumri in the morning when the bomber approached on foot and detonated his explosives, said Baghlan chief of police Asadullah Sherzad.

The attacker was dressed in police uniform and blended with officers at a checkpoint near the council headquarters, then slipped into a group of people surrounding Mr Mohseni and set off his bomb in the crowd, said Baghlan deputy police chief Mohammad Sadeq Muradi.

“He was basically waiting for his target, who was Rasoul Mohseni,” Mr Muradi said.

Two of Mr Mohseni’s police bodyguards, four checkpoint police personnel and seven civilians were killed in the blast, he said.

It was unclear whether the attacker was actually a member of Afghan security forces or an insurgent who bought or stole a uniform.

Mohammad Zahier Ghanizada, a member of parliament from Baghlan, said that Mr Mohseni had previously received multiple death threats.

A well-known figure in Baghlan, Mr Mohseni was previously a respected commander in the Northern Alliance that fought against the Taliban’s hard-line regime before it was toppled in 2001. He belonged to a prominent family in the province, and his brother Azim Mohseni is a member of parliament.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed in a message to journalists that an insurgent operative had carried out the bombing. “Today at 11am in front of the Baghlan provincial council office, we have carried out a suicide attack and killed the head of the council.”—AP