At least 45 killed in Afghanistan suicide bombing

Attack in eastern Afghanistan came just hours after parliament approved agreements to extend stay of US and Nato forces in the country.

KABUL // At least 45 people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said.

Dozens more were wounded when the bomber, who was on foot and mingling with the crowd, detonated his explosives, said Mokhis Afghan, the spokesman for the governor of Paktika province.

He said the attack happened in the afternoon during an inter-district volleyball tournament attended by large crowed in Yahyakhail district.

“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,” Mr Afghan 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.

Sunday’s attack was 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.

The bombing came just hours Afghanistan’s parliament approved agreements allowing US and Nato troops to remain in the country past the end of this year.

The international combat mission in Afghanistan, begun after the 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban, was to conclude at the end of this year.

The agreements ratified by parliament allow the United States and Nato to keep a total of 12,000 troops in Afghanistan next year to support local forces.

However, the agreements come after US officials said Barack Obama had approved new guidelines allowing American troops to engage Taliban fighters, not just Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan.

The US president’s decision also means the US can conduct air support when needed.

In approving the agreements in a 152-5 vote, Afghan legislators made no mention of Mr Obama’s expansion of the US role in fighting militants in the country.

President Ghani, signed the agreements with Nato and the US immediately after taking office in September, but they also required parliament’s approval.

His country, beset by decades of war, has seen Taliban militants increasingly attack civilians and local security forces amid the foreign troop drawdown.

* Associated Press