Deadly blast at Afghan sporting match

Family of parliament speaker among those killed in attack at buzkashi venue in northern Kunduz province.

A suicide bombing during a buzkashi match in northern Afghanistan has killed at least eight people.

Amanddin Quriashi, a senior official in the Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province, where the blast took place, said Abdul Qayum Ibrahimi, the district police chief, was among the injured in Wednesday's attack.

"The suicide attacker detonated [his explosives] at the end of the match in Imam Sahib district this evening," Abdul Khalil Andarabi, Kunduz police chief, told the AFP news agency.

Among the dead in the remote village of Basos were several family members of the Afghan speaker of parliament, said Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, regional police spokesman. Another eight people were wounded.

The parliament speaker, Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi, was born in Basos. Ahmadzai said the dead include Ibrahimi's father, two brothers and one nephew.

The crowd of 3,000 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.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

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