Lahore: A Pakistani minister admitted on Saturday a suicide bomber was behind an explosion that killed two people outside the stadium during a Pakistan-Zimbabwe cricket match, as a spokesman for the hosts said the visitors would continue the tour.
Friday’s explosion, which police still insist was an accidental blast, threatened to torpedo Pakistan’s first series on home soil since an attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in March 2009.
The bombing, which did not affect the match itself, triggered a news blackout in Pakistani media and came despite heavy security in and around Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.
“The incident has not affected the tour, Zimbabwe’s tour will continue,” a spokesman for the Pakistan Cricket Board said.
“Their players have gone shopping today.”
Zimbabwe has not yet confirmed whether it will finish the tour.
“We heard a blast during the match on Friday. We do not know what it was. We have held a team meeting to inform everyone that our hosts are coming this afternoon to talk to us about this incident,” said Zimbabwe team spokesman Lovemore Banda.
The third and final one-day international between the two sides is due to take place on Sunday in Lahore. Pakistan has so far won all of the matches in the series — two Twenty20 meets and two earlier one-day internationals.
Pakistan’s information minister on Saturday said the explosion outside the Gaddafi Stadium was a suicide bomb, despite police claims to the contrary.
“The suicide bomber failed to enter the stadium due to the bravery of our police,” Pervez Rashid told private broadcaster Geo.
The attack took place about 1.5km from the venue at “the outer security cordon of the stadium”, Rashid said.
Despite Rashid’s comments, Lahore police insisted on Saturday that the incident was an “accidental blast” caused by an auto rickshaw’s gas cylinder exploding.
“It was a gas cylinder explosion and not a terrorist act,” a police spokesman told AFP. He said one policeman and the rickshaw driver died.
Police had earlier said the blast was a transformer explosion.
The news was blacked out in Pakistani media until the conclusion of the match in order to prevent panic, a decision Rashid praised in his remarks to Geo.
