(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-06 21:29

The northern Afghan region where the blast happened is known for tensions between the mainly ethnic Tajik government leadership and remnants of the militant group Hezb-i-Islami, whose fugitive leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an ethnic Pashtun, is allied to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida but has denied organizational links.

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

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," a term commonly used here to refer to Taliban militants but that could also include other terrorist groups like al-Qaida.

In central Afghanistan, 60 Taliban militants on motorbikes and pickup trucks overran a district center, firing on the town from a mountain outlook, pushing out the police and cutting off the town's main road, the provinvial governor said Tuesday.

The Kajran district, in Day Kundi province, is the third overrun by militants in the last week.

Day Kundi's governor, Sultan Ali Uruzgani, said police retreated late Monday when 60 Taliban on motorbikes and trucks stormed the town. One militant was killed and one policeman wounded in fighting, he said.

Fighting broke out around Kajran five days ago, he said. Since then, the Taliban have been firing artillery into the town from a mountain overlook and on Monday blocked the main road, Uruzgani said.

Uruzgani said he asked the Afghan government and NATO for reinforcements but that the area hasn't received any such support yet. The district borders Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, which have both seen heavy fighting this year.

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