A suicide bomber killed 45 people at a volleyball match in Afghanistan yesterday, a provincial official said, as foreign troops withdraw from the country after more than a decade of fighting.
Mukhles Afghan, spokesman for the governor of Paktika province, said at least 50 more were wounded in the attack in Yahya Khel district, where residents had gathered to watch a tournament final.
He said most of the casualties were civilians.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack, in which provincial spokesman Afghan said the bomber walked into the crowd of spectators and detonated his explosive vest.
“Sadly we have 45 people killed and around 50 others wounded in this suicide attack,” the spokesman said.
Casualties were high because the crowd was so dense, since many people had come from nearby districts to cheer on their team. No other details were immediately available because of the remoteness of the location.
The Taliban and other jihadist militants have unleashed waves of suicide attacks and assassinations in Afghanistan this year, as foreign forces pull out after 13 years of war.
About 12,000 international troops will remain in Afghanistan next year to train and support Afghanistan’s security forces.
Paktika was the site of one of this year’s deadliest attacks on civilians in July, when 89 people were killed by a bomb in a crowded market.
The province has an active Afghan Taliban insurgent presence and lies along the porous border with Pakistan’s lawless North Waziristan region, used as a base by both the Haqqani militant network and the Pakistani branch of the Taliban. The Pakistani army for months has been waging an offensive against militants in North Waziristan, driving many refugees and militant fighters across the border into Afghanistan.
Taliban and other jihadist militants have unleashed waves of suicide attacks and assassinations
This year has been one of the bloodiest years of the war for Afghan civilians, according to the United Nations, which recorded nearly 5,000 deaths and injuries of civilians in the first half of the year.
About three-quarters of those were blamed on the Taliban and its allies.
Meanwhile President Barack Obama has approved plans to give US military commanders a wider role to fight the Taliban alongside Afghan forces after the current mission ends next month, a senior administration official said. The decision extends previous plans by authorising US troops to carry out combat operations against the Taliban to protect Americans and support Afghanistan's security forces as part of the new Isaf Resolute Support mission next year.
Obama had announced in May that US troop levels would be cut to 9,800 by the end of the year, by half again in 2015 and to a normal embassy presence with a security assistance office in Kabul by the end of 2016.
Under that plan, only a small contingent, 1,800 US troops, would remain, limited to counterterrorism operations against al-Qaeda remnants. The new orders will also allow operations against the Taliban.
'To the extent that Taliban members directly threaten the United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan or provide direct support to al-Qaeda, we will take appropriate measures to keep Americans safe,' an Obama spokesman said.
A report by The New York Times said the new authorisation also allows the deployment of American jets, bombers and drones. The announcement was welcomed by Afghan police and army commanders after heavy losses against the Taliban this summer.