Afghanistan has withdrawn from an upcoming international cricket series after three players from a local tournament were killed in a Pakistani airstrike late Friday night, Afghan officials said.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announced it would not participate in November’s tri-nation T20 series “out of respect for the martyrs.”
According to Afghan officials, the strike hit a home in Urgon district of Paktika province, where the players were eating dinner after a match. The ACB identified the victims as Kabeer Agha, Sibghatullah, and Haroon, describing their deaths as “a great loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family.”
Earlier local reports had suggested that up to eight players were killed in the airstrike. However, officials later clarified that three were members of a local cricket team, while the remaining victims were civilians.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) said it was “deeply saddened and appalled” by the deaths of the Afghan cricketers and “several other civilians” in the airstrike. “The ICC stands in solidarity with the Afghanistan Cricket Board and echoes their grief,” it said in a statement, adding that it “strongly condemns this act of violence.”
The attack came hours after a temporary ceasefire between Afghanistan and Pakistan expired following days of deadly border clashes between the two countries. Afghan officials said the strike violated the truce and hit civilian areas, killing several people.
Pakistan, however, said its military had targeted “Afghan militants” and claimed to have killed at least 70 fighters.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar rejected Kabul’s accusations, calling reports of civilian deaths “false and meant to generate support for terrorist groups operating from inside Afghanistan.”
Tarar also criticised the ICC statement as “selective, biased and premature,” saying it lacked “independent verification to substantiate these claims.”