Suicide bomber kills over 45 at Afghanistan volleyball match

A suicide bomber killed at least 45 people at a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday.

A spokesman for the governor of Paktika province said that the attacker had detonated the bomb amid a crowd of people gathering for a game. About 60 people were also wounded in the bombing in Yahyakhail district

“The suicide attacker was on a motorcycle, he detonated himself in the middle of a volleyball match,” Attaullah Fazli, deputy governor of Paktika province said, adding, “A lot of people including some provincial officials and the police chief were there. About 50 people have been killed, and 60 injured, a lot of them seriously.”

Paktika, bordering Pakistan, is one of Afghanistan’s most volatile regions, where a Taliban-led insurgency is waging an intensifying war against the government in Kabul.

Sunday’s attack is one of the deadliest so far this year, a time when attacks are escalating alongside a contentious election, the inauguration of President Ashraf Ghani in September, and the withdrawal of Western troops.

Image: Little Afghan boys play volleyball on the outskirts of Kabul. Photograph: Reuters

Image is used for representational purposes only.