The Interior Ministry said more than 50 people were killed and wounded.

The lawmakers were about to tour a sugar factory in the northern province of Baghlan when the blast went off. Six members of parliament were among at least 20 people killed, said Faizullah Zaki, a lawmaker from Jawzjan province.

Kamin Khan, a police official, said people "everywhere" were dead and wounded, including police, children, lawmakers and officials from the Department of Agriculture.

The blast appears to be one of the worst against members of Afghanistan's fledgling government. Taliban bombers have killed regional governors in the past, but never have they killed so many high government officials in one attack.

Among the six lawmakers killed was Sayed Mustafa Kazimi, a former Afghan commerce minister and a powerful member of the Northern Alliance, said the lawmaker's secretary, Ahmadi, who gave only one name.

Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary did not confirm the deaths of any parliamentarians, saying several were taken to the hospital. He said the lawmakers were part of parliament's economic commission.

"It's a very bad incident," Bashary said. He said the government was trying to tally all the wounded and dead at the different hospitals.

He blamed the attack on the "enemy of Afghanistan, the enemy of the people of Afghanistan," and said an investigation was under way.