May 08 Wednesday 2002
NZ recalls team from Pakistan after bombing

WELLINGTON: New Zealand Cricket recalled their team from Pakistan on Wednesday after a bomb blast outside their hotel in Karachi killed 11 people.

The bomb exploded at around 0800 (0200 GMT) local time alongside a navy bus which was parked near two major city hotels.

"I have made a decision to immediately cancel the remainder of New Zealand's cricket test tour of Pakistan," NZ Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden told a news conference.

"I will now make an arrangement for the team to immediately fly out of Pakistan and return home to New Zealand."

Police in Karachi said a suspected suicide bomber was responsible for the blast, which also wounded at least 17 people.

Sikander Bakht, Pakistan's assistant coach, said New Zealand's cricket team physiotherapist Dayle Shackle was slightly injured in the blast.

"He was the only person sitting on the coach waiting for the team, who were having breakfast in the hotel when the explosion took place. He received a minor injury in the left elbow from broken glass," Bakht said.

Snedden said he had spoken to Pakistan cricket officials to explain the decision to bring the team home immediately.

The second test in the series had been due to begin on Wednesday. "The primary reason of course is that at all times the safety of our players and team management must have priority over absolutely everything else."

The International Cricket Council had also been informed, Snedden said. The navy bus was parked near the luxury Sheraton Hotel.

The New Zealand team were staying at the Pearl Continental Hotel across the street. New Zealand sports commentator Brian Waddle, travelling with the team, told Radio Sport the mangled frame of a bus could be seen in the street.

"Basically that's all you can see, the mangled wreckage of the bus. I had a quick look into the street -- it wasn't very appetising so I decided to walk away from that area."

Metal fragments and broken glass littered the heavily damaged hotel front, and security checks were being made to ensure there were no other devices, Waddle said.

Pakistan thrashed New Zealand in the first test in Lahore, winning by an innings and 324 runs. The tour was originally scheduled for September and October last year but was postponed after the September 11 attacks on the United States and the subsequent war in neighbouring Afghanistan.
New Zealand cricket teams are no strangers to bombings in the region with three tours to Sri Lanka disrupted in the past 15 years.

A New Zealand team was in Colombo in 1987 when a car bomb killed more than 100 people, and in 1992 a bomb exploded outside the team hotel.

Last year, the team was in Sri Lanka when a suicide attack by Tamil Tigers closed Colombo's international airport.