Gunmen kill two and kidnap others at Afghan cricket match

Afghan officials say gunmen killed at least two people and kidnapped others in an assault on a cricket match in a rural area near the Pakistan border.

Gen. Zelmai Oryakhail, the police chief of Paktia province, said Saturday that gunmen opened fire on the match Thursday, killing a police officer and a civilian. He says five others were wounded in the attack in the province’s Zazi Aryub district.

Abdul Wali Sahee, Paktia’s acting governor, says 36 people, mostly teenagers, were kidnapped by the gunmen. Oryakhail says all but three have been freed.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, though officials said they suspect the Taliban launched the assault. The insurgents are active in provinces along Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan.

The Taliban began its annual offensive on April 24.