An Afghan provincial governor and 15 other people were killed on Friday when a powerful blast tore through a mosque in northern Afghanistan, a police commander said.

The nature of the blast in the town of Taluqan, the capital of Takhar province, was not immediately clear.

"There was a blast in the mosque. The governor, the imam, altogether 16 people have been killed," provincial police chief Shah Jahan Noori said.

Governor Mohammad Omar was the governor of the neighbouring province of Kunduz, but orginally came from Takhar.