Overview

• The Afghanistan Cricket Board said three national-team players — Kabeer, Sibghatullah, and Haroon — were killed in Paktika, with eight total fatalities and seven people seriously injured.
• The board stated the players had traveled to Sharana for a friendly match and were hit after returning home to Urgun.
• The board announced it will not participate in the late-November Tri-Nation T20I Series scheduled in Lahore and Rawalpindi, where Sri Lanka was also set to play.
• Local reporting attributed the strike to Pakistan and said residential areas in Urgun and Barmal were hit during a 48-hour ceasefire period as talks in Doha were being prepared.
• The latest violence followed Pakistan’s cross-border strikes reported since 9 October targeting TTP militants, with leader Noor Wali Mehsud identified in reports as a primary target who survived.