SHARAN, Afghanistan, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- At least 45 people were killed and 60 others wounded after a suicide bomb attack shocked a volleyball ground in Yahya Khel district of Paktika province, eastern Afghanistan, on Sunday evening, officials confirmed.
"Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani condemned in strongest terms today's suicide blast in Yahya Khel district of Paktika province which left about 45 innocent civilians dead and injured more than 60 others," the Presidential Palace said in a statement.
The explosion took place during a volleyball match, according to the statement.
The president ordered the concerned authorities to provide best medical treatment for the wounded in the province bordering Pakistan, it noted.
"The barbaric attack to civilians in Paktika is not acceptable, it is a massacre and terrorists are responsible for their dead," First Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum said in his condemnation message in his twitter account.
No group has claimed responsibility for the incident so far.
Unofficial sources put the number of the casualties as high as 55 killed and more than 80 injured.
The attack came as the lower house of the Afghan parliament endorsed a security and defense agreement with the U.S. and a similar pact with the NATO earlier on the day.
Since the U.S. and NATO-led forces' combat mission ends by the end of 2014, the agreements allow both the U.S. and NATO to keep limited number of troops probably 12,000 beyond 2014 in Afghanistan to advise and train Afghan national security forces.
MAIMANA, Afghanistan, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Afghan police killed three Taliban militants and wounded seven others during in a clash on Sunday in Khawja Sabzposh district of northern Faryab province.
"The clash erupted in Khawja Sabposh district today at noon time during which three Taliban rebels including their commander Qari Hamidullah were killed and seven others injured," said police spokesman of the province Sayed Massoud Yaqubi. Full story
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