Suicide Bomber Kills 45 at Afghan Volleyball Match

A suicide bomber attacked a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan today, killing at least 45 people. Dozens more were wounded when the bomber, who was on foot and mingling with the crowd, detonated his explosives, said a rep for the governor of Paktika province. He said the attack happened during an inter-district volleyball tournament attended by a large crowd in Yahyakhail district late this afternoon. "There were too many people gathered in the one place to watch the game. Dozens of others are wounded and we have reports that many of them are in critical condition," he said. "We need urgent help from the central government because we might need to transfer wounded people to Kabul for treatment."

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. Today's attack is one of the deadliest so far this year, a time when attacks are escalating alongside a contentious election and the inauguration of President Ashraf Ghani in September. Afghanistan's parliament approved agreements today with the US and NATO allowing international troops to remain in the country past the end of this year. Ghani's first act after becoming president was to sign the agreements, which are bitterly opposed by the Taliban and other insurgent groups. (More Afghanistan stories.)