WASHINGTON - The US State Department on Friday condemned a terror attack in northwest Pakistan that killed at least 68 people.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said at a daily briefing that the suicide bombing is a "heinous attack."

"It only highlights the existential threat that these kinds of extremist organizations pose for Pakistan, and underscores why it's so important that we continue to work together both on defeating and dismantling al-Qaida as well as its affiliates," he added.

At least 68 people were killed and over 80 others injured in a powerful twin suicide blast that took place early Friday morning at a military training center in Charsadda, a city some 30 kilometers northeast of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan, local media quoted the top official of the police department in the city as saying.