DHAKA: A suicide bomber has killed at least 40 people at a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan, officials say.

A spokesman for the governor of Paktika province told the BBC that the attacker had detonated the bomb amid a crowd of people gathering for a game.

About 50 people were also wounded in Sunday’s bombing.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks ahead of the planned withdrawal of most foreign combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of the year.

BDST: 2042 HRS, NOV 23, 2014