A suicide bomber has attacked foreign military forces in northern Afghanistan, killing 12 people.
Provincial governor Abdul Haq Shafaq said a “suicide bomber targeted a group of foreign friends" near a park in Maymana, the capital of Faryab province.
Faryab, which borders Turkmenistan, is far from centres of the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan's south and east.
However, the Islamist militia are present in some areas of the province and it suffers sporadic attacks.
NATO's US-led International Security Assistance Force said two service members died after an explosion in northern Afghanistan, but refused to confirm whether it was the same incident.
There were conflicting reports about the exact death toll and the identity of the victims after the suicide bomber blew himself up on a motorcycle.
Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, police spokesman for northern Afghanistan, described the blast as "powerful" and said six civilians and four policemen were killed, with 20 people wounded including four police.
"A suicide bomber with a suicide vest full of explosives and on an explosive-laden motorcycle targeted some foreign forces near a UN compound in Maymana," he said.
Most foreign troops in Faryab are Norwegian and Lieutenant Colonel John Espen Lien, a spokesman for Norway's armed forces, told AFP there were "at least 12 killed, but this number is not definitive".
No Norwegian ISAF personnel were nearby at the time, he added.
