REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail

KABUL (Reuters) - A suicide bomber blew himself up at a checkpoint near the main cricket stadium in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least three people as a tournament was under way, officials said. The blast outside Kabul International Cricket Stadium took place during a match in Afghanistan’s Shpageeza Cricket League, a T20 franchise tournament on the lines of the Indian Premier League and similar 20-over tournaments. Scores of police blocked the road leading to the stadium where the sixth match of the Shpageeza Cricket League, a domestic T20 tournament, between the Boost Defenders and Mis Ainak Knights was under way. The attacker detonated the bomb after he was stopped at a security checkpoint by suspicious police as he walked towards the Alokozay Kabul International Cricket Ground where a match was under way. Basir Mujahid, a policeman spoke to the AFP and said, “The security forces by sacrificing themselves have prevented the attacker from reaching the crowd (inside the stadium) and creating a catastrophe,”

Several ambulances were seen speeding away from the scene, apparently taking the injured to hospital, an AFP reporter said. Farid Hotak, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Cricket Board spoke to AFP and said, “The game was briefly interrupted and all players and cricket board officials are safe.”

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A suicide bombing occurs at a checkpoint near the Kabul International Cricket Stadium in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing at least three people and injuring five.