The death toll in a suicide blast near northwestern...

A terrorist entered a playing ground during a volleyball match. He drove his car into the crowd watching the game and detonated a bomb in the town of Shah Hasan Khan in Bannu district, which borders Taliban stronghold South Waziristan.

The explosion destroyed some 20 houses near the playing ground.

Local media said the blast could have been an act of revenge for locals expelling Al Qaeda and Taliban militants from the area earlier.

Media also said ideologists of the Taliban radical movement denounced any sports involving a ball, such as football or volleyball, as "non-Islamic sports."

MOSCOW, January 2 (RIA Novosti)