A SUICIDE bomber attacked a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, killing at least 45 people, officials said.

Dozens more were wounded when the bomber, who was on foot and mingling with the crowd, detonated his explosives, said Mokhis Afghan, spokesman for the governor of Paktika province.

He said the attack happened during an inter-district volleyball tournament attended by large crowds in Yahyakhail district.

"There were too many people gathered in the one place to watch the game. Dozens of others are wounded and we have reports that many of them are in critical condition," Mr Afghan said.

"We need urgent help from the central government because we might need to transfer wounded people to Kabul for treatment."

Paktika, bordering Pakistan, is one of Afghanistan's most volatile regions where a Taliban-led insurgency is waging an intensifying war against the government in Kabul.