The Zimbabwe cricket team said Saturday that it will continue its ongoing cricket tour of Pakistan despite an alleged suicide bomb attack leaving two people dead outside Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium during a match between the two sides.
Pakistan's Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid had said that Friday's bomb blast near the Gaddafi Stadium was a suicide attack.
The blast killed two people, including a police officer when a suicide bomber blew himself up while riding on a rickshaw near Kalma Chowk, less than a kilometer from the stadium.
The gas cylinder was reportedly fixed to an auto rickshaw when it exploded at around 9p.m. on Friday night, while a day-night one day international match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe was on.
Lahore Police, however, is insisting that the blast was an accident aimed at ending Zimbabwe's tour to cricket-mad Pakistan, the first by an international side since March 2009.
The blast, 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.
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The visitors' decision to play on means the two sides will face off in the third and final one-day international at the same venue on Sunday.
Pakistan has so far won two Twenty20 matches and two one-day internationals.
"The Zimbabwe tour of Pakistan ends tomorrow," Zimbabwe Cricket said in a statement on Saturday.
The Dawn quoted the statement as further saying that the Lahore police met with the Zimbabwe team, and told them that "what occurred was a cylinder blast which killed two people, and that their forensics experts are examining remains from the explosion to ascertain the cause".
According to the daily, a senior city police official has assured the travelling party of continued safety on the tour.