Suicide bomber kills 4 at Afghan sporting event

Attacker targets game of buzkashi, a traditional sport in which players on horseback wrangle for a headless goat carcass

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By AMIR SHAH, RAHIM FAIEZ

updated 2/26/2011 8:50:53 AM ET

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KABUL, Afghanistan — Amid screams of "Suicide bomber! Suicide bomber!" an insurgent detonated his vest of explosives Saturday, killing at least four people at a sports field in northwest Afghanistan.

It was the latest in a spate of attacks that have hit nearly every corner of the country in recent weeks.

The suicide bomber struck a game of buzkashi, a traditional Afghan sport in which players on horseback wrangle for a headless goat carcass, said Abdul Haq Shafiq, governor of Faryab province.

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"The people and the police became suspicious of the bomber," Shafiq said. "People started running. Everyone was scared. The people called out, 'Suicide bomber! Suicide bomber!' and then the bomber blew himself up."

Besides the dead, 19 people were wounded, said Shafiq. About 2,000 people were at the event when the blast occurred.

In the east, nine people were killed just outside Khost city when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb, according to the Afghan Interior Minister. The explosion killed three men, two women and four children in the insurgent-ridden Lakan area of the capital of Khost province.

A roadside bomb also killed nine people Saturday near the eastern city of Khost.

The three men, two women and four children were killed just outside the city when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in the insurgent-ridden Lakan area, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry.

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