The death toll in a suicide blast in northwestern Pakistan has risen to at least 70 people with almost 100 injured, A Pakistan News online edition reported.

Earlier reports said 27 people were killed when a terrorist entered a playing ground during a volleyball match and blew himself up.

According to the latest data, a suicide bomber drove his vehicle into the crowd watching the game and detonated a bomb in it. The incident took place in the town of Shah Hasan Khan in Bannu district, which borders Taliban stronghold South Waziristan.

District police chief Mohammad Ayub Khan said he feared the number of those killed could rise further, according to Pakistani television channel Aaj News.

Local media said ideologists of the Taliban radical movement denounced any sports involving a ball, such as football or volleyball, as “non-Islamic sports.”

NEW DELHI, January 1 (RIA Novosti)