Grenade explosion at cricket game in Afghanistan injures 13

The blast happened at a match between Pamir Zalmi and Band-e-Amir Dragons in the country’s domestic T20 league, held at the Kabul International Cricket Stadium, Aljazeera reported.

A spokesman for the Kabul police said that the explosion was caused by a grenade.

“The match stopped for a while. After clean-up of the area the match restarted,” the spokesman, Khalid Zadran, told the Reuters news agency.

“The players, staff members, and foreigners are all safe,” he said on Twitter, without offering details.

A top United Nations official, Ramiz Alakbarov, who was present at the stadium condemned the “atrocious attack”, a UN statement said.

“Today’s blast is yet another harrowing reminder of the terrifying and sudden violence that the population in Afghanistan continues to be exposed to,” Alakbarov, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, said in a statement.

Friday is a weekly holiday in the country and a sizeable crowd had gathered to watch the match.

This year’s edition of the Shpageeza Cricket League, its eighth season, is the first such tournament since the Taliban took power in August last year.

RHM/PR