Star Pakistani players like Babar Azam, Shahid Afridi, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and others were moved to the safety of the dressing room after a terror attack and explosion happened near the Bugti Stadium in Quetta, reports suggested.

The players were participating in an exhibition PSL match between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmis, captained by Sarfaraz Ahmed and Babar Azam respectively on Sunday, February 5, 2023.

This was organized by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after pressure from Baloch fans that Quetta also gets the status of a PSL venue.

The match was halted, following an explosion in the Police Lines area, which left five people injured. A senior police officer said that rescue work had been completed at the site and the injured had been taken to the hospital, PTI reported.

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Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on Sunday. It stated that the security officials were targeted in the blast. This comes on the heels of the suicide bomb attack in a mosque in Peshawar last week, which saw 80 casualties.

"As soon as the explosion happened, as a precautionary measure, the match was stopped and players taken to the dressing room for a while. Later, after the green signal, the match resumed," the police official said.

It is not clear what was the nature of the explosion.

(PTI inputs)