In the worst attack recorded this year in Afghanistan, at least 45 people were killed on Sunday, during a volleyball tournament being held in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan, a government spokesman said.
Another 70 people were injured, said Deputy Interior Minister, Ayub Salangi. Most of the victims are civilians, including many children and young people. The figure may increase. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
A Health Ministry official said that hospitals are overwhelmed. “We don’t have the capacity to take care of all the victims. Many of the wounded died in hospital or on the way there,” he said.
The Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum, condemned the attack on Twitter saying- “This barbaric attack on civilians in Paktika is unacceptable. It is a slaughter and terrorists are responsible for the deaths,” he wrote on the social network.
In July, also in Paktika province, more than 40 people were blown up by a car bomb, about 50 people were injured.
The province is located on the border with Pakistan, where the army is fighting the insurgents and the Taliban in the tribal region of north. The Taliban have repeatedly made attacks against followers of a sport.
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