At least 42 people have been killed and dozens injured in a suicide attack at a busy market in eastern Afghanistan's Paktika province, local officials say.

They say the attacker drove a 4x4 vehicle into the market in Orgun district and detonated the explosives.

The market was full of people doing their shopping for the Muslim festival Ramadan at the time of the attack.

No group has claimed the attack, but Taliban insurgents said they had not carried it out.

"We clearly announce that it was not done by the Mujahedeen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

Eyewitnesses and medical staff said local hospitals were overrun with casualties after one of the deadliest attacks in months in Afghanistan.

The eastern province of Paktika shares a border with Pakistan's restive and volatile tribal areas.

Orgun is one of Paktika's safest areas, though members of the Haqqani militant network are thought to have a presence there.

Source: BBC