Suicide bomber strikes buzkashi fans in northern Afghanistan, causing casualties

KABUL – Afghan officials say several people have been killed and injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of sports fans watching a buzkashi game in northern Afghanistan.

Amanddin Quriashi, a senior official in the Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province, says the district police chief is among the wounded in Wednesday’s bombing.

Kunduz province police chief Gen. Mohammad Khalil Andarabi says the father of the speaker of the Afghan parliament was among those killed in the attack.

The provincial police chief’s Sayed Sarwar Hussaini has confirmed the suicide attack but says the number of casualties is still being determined.

The crowd was watching a game of buzkashi, a traditional Afghan sport akin to polo, where players on horseback use a headless goat carcass instead of a ball.