KABUL, OCT 18 : Afghanistan have pulled out of a tri-nation series with Pakistan and Sri Lanka next month after three local cricketers were killed in an attack, the country’s cricket board said on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ACB said that the players had travelled from Urgun to Sharana in the eastern Paktika province on the Pakistan border to take part in a friendly match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said that “after returning home to Urgun, they were targeted during a gathering” in what it described as “a cowardly attack carried out by the Pakistani regime”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ACB named the three players as “Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon”, and said that five other people were also killed in the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deceased cricketers Sibghatullah (L), Haroon (C) and Kabeer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistan airstrikes kill 10 civilians in Afghanistan; Kabul says will ‘retaliate’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ACB did not give any more details on the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said that it “considers this a great loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family”, while extending its “deepest condolences and solidarity to the bereaved families”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ACB said that it had decided to withdraw from next month’s tri-series “as a gesture of respect to the victims”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The massacre of innocent civilians and our domestic cricket players by these oppressors is a heinous, unforgivable crime,” wrote Afghan international cricketer Fazalhaq Farooqi on Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another international player, Mohammad Nabi, added: “This incident is not only a tragedy for Paktika but for the entire Afghan cricket family and the nation as a whole.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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