Before the attack, the hardline Islamist Taliban had killed more than 200 people in more than 130 suicide attacks this year in their campaign to overthrow the pro-Western Afghan government and eject the 50,000 foreign troops from the country.

But northern Afghanistan has escaped much of the violence which has wracked other parts of the country since the Taliban relaunched their insurgency two years ago.

The director of the hospital in Baghlan initially said 90 people had been killed in the attack, but later put the toll at between 60 and 90.

A deputy agriculture minister and prominent woman parliamentarian Shukria Barakzai were among the wounded.

“The president has condemned this in the strongest possible terms,” said presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada. “The president has also ordered the Ministry of Defence to send all the necessary help to treat the injured ... and also ordered the Ministry of Interior to conduct an investigation right away.”