Terrorists murdered eight people and wounded another 45 by detonating three bombs at a cricket match in Afghanistan.
The explosives went off nearly simultaneously in crowds of spectators at the match in a Jalalabad stadium late on Friday night.
Among those killed was the deputy provincial mayor of neighboring Laghman province and the organiser of the night time ‘Ramadan Cup’ tournament.
Terrorists murdered eight people and wounded another 45 by detonating three bombs at a cricket match in Afghanistan
The explosives went off nearly simultaneously in crowds of spectators at the match in a Jalalabad stadium late on Friday night
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said attacking during the holy month of Ramadan showed the terrorists were not true believers but ‘enemies of humanity.’
‘The terrorists did not stop killing our people even during the holy month of Ramadan… by carrying out a terrorist attack in a populated sport stadium,’ he said.
‘Once again they have proved that they are not bound to any creed or religion, and they are the enemy of humanity.’
International Cricket Council chief executive David Richardson said: ‘We are saddened to hear of the terrorist attack on a cricket match in Afghanistan.
Politicians said attacking during the holy month of Ramadan showed the terrorists were not true believers but ‘enemies of humanity’
No group has yet claimed the murders but the Taliban said they were not responsible
An Afghan security official inspects the scene of three bomb blasts at a cricket ground in Jalalabad, Afghanistan
‘We extend our thoughts and sympathy to the families of those killed and the wider cricket family there.’
No group has yet claimed the murders but the Taliban said they were not responsible.
Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, on the border with Pakistan, has a Taliban presence and is also a stronghold of the Islamic State group.
A man surveys the cricket ground where the three bombs exploded in Jalalabad
Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, on the border with Pakistan, has a Taliban presence and is also a stronghold of the Islamic State group
In September 2017 IS claimed a suicide bombing on a cricket match in Kabul which left three dead and five injured.
Cricket in Afghanistan struggled under the hardline Islamist Taliban regime in the late 1990s, which viewed sports as a distraction from religious duties.
But its popularity surged in the years since the US invasion, a dizzying rise which saw Afghanistan become part of the elite group of Test nations last year.
Cricket in Afghanistan struggled under the hardline Islamist Taliban regime in the late 1990s, which viewed sports as a distraction from religious duties