A suicide bomb exploded in crowds at a traditional horse-back game of buzkashi in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least six people, police said.

"The suicide attacker detonated himself at the end of the match in Imam Sahib district this evening. Six people have died," Abdul Khalil Andarabi, police chief of Kunduz province, told AFP.

Andarabi said that among the dead were the district police chief and the father of the Speaker in the national parliament. At least seven other people were wounded in the attack.

Buzkashi is Afghanistan's national sport in which riders use a headless goat in place of a ball in a ferocious version of polo.

Kunduz, which borders Tajikistan, has been beset by insurgent violence in recent years. In 2010, the provincial governor was killed by a bomb blast that tore through prayer services at a mosque.

Afghan soldiers and police are taking over responsibility for security across much of the country as international coalition forces, which have been deployed since 2001, pull out by the end of next year.

The attack on Wednesday came after twin suicide explosions on Sunday, when 19 people were killed in blasts in the capital Kabul and in the eastern province of Khost.

The bomb in Kabul, outside the defence ministry, struck as US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel visited a US military base nearby.

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