Afghanistan car bomb near stadium kills 13 people and injures many

Explosion rocks Helmand province as Afghan crowds leave wrestling match

A car was reportedly driven into crowd leaving a wrestling match at the Ghazi Muhammad Ayub Khan stadium (TOLO News)

A car bomb attack outside a sports stadium in Helmand province, Afghanistan, has killed at least 13 people and injured 40 others.

The attacker targeted crowds leaving a wrestling match at the Ghazi Muhammad Ayub Khan stadium in the region’s capital Lashkar Gha.

Aminullah Abed, the chief of the province’s public health department, said the casualties were received at a hospital in the province’s capital, Lashkar Gah, with many of the wounded burnt beyond recognition.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack in its immediate aftermath.

Provincial chief of police Abdul Ghafar Safi said the blast was carried out by a suicide bomber and that the target was civilians. No high ranking officials were present or harmed at the stadium, he added.

The office of Afghan president Ashraf Ghani issued a statement condemning the “brutal terrorist attack”.

Associated Press contributed to this report