KUNDUZ: A large blast hit the compound of the governor of Afghanistan’s normally peaceful northern Takhar province on Saturday, said a security source and the provincial prosecutor, whose office is near to the compound.

“I heard a loud explosion from inside the governor’s compound,” prosecutor Wazir Mohammad Jalali told Reuters, adding that he could see smoke rising from the nearby site of the blast in the provincial capital, Taloqan.

Initial reports suggest that the explosion at the governor’s compound in Afghanistan’s northern Takhar province on Saturday killed or wounded several Nato troops and members of the Afghan security forces, a spokesman for Nato-led troops said.

“We are aware of reports there has been an attack at the governor’s palace in Taloqan, Takhar province,” said Major Tim James, spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul.

“Initial reports indicate there have been a number of ISAF and ANSF (Afghan National Security Force) casualties.”