Five local volleyball players were killed when unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on them during a game in Laghman province of Afghanistan, officials said on Friday.
A spokesman for Laghman’s provincial governor Sarhadii Zhouak told a foreign news agency that the attack took place on Thursday in Alinghar district. The attackers fled the scene.
“Armed men opened fire on a volleyball game. The players were young men, all innocent, and all of them were killed,” said Zhouak.
Officials blamed Taliban for the attack as during their rule between 1996- -2001 volleyball and many other activities were banned, but their spokesman had denied the charge.
“We completely reject this allegation. We are not involved in this killing at all. Those who killed them are not our men,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the news agency.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the attack.
Meanwhile a spokesperson of Helmand province Omar Zwak said that late on Thursday, police found the body of a slain journalist Noor Ahmad Noori. Noori, who worked for a local Radio station, was abducted earlier on that day.
Afghan volleyball players shot dead during game
