At least ten people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on tribal leaders in Afghanistan.
Pro-government tribal elder Haji Malik Zarin and his son were among those killed in the blast in Kunar province near the Pakistan border.
A Taliban spokesman has denied the group carried out the attack, saying that Mr Zarin had ‘his own enemies’.
The attack took place in Asmaar district when elders from two tribes were meeting to resolve a dispute.
Violence in Afghanistan last year reached the highest levels since the Taliban government was overthrown by US-led Afghan forces in late 2001, with record casualties on all sides.
The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan in 2010 rose 15% from the previous year to 2,777, according to the United Nations, with insurgents responsible for around 75% of those deaths.
