Six fans hurt during World Cup celebrations in Afghanistan

Afghanistan fans celebrate their team’s win on Thursday

Afghanistan fans’ celebratory mood after their cricket team’s historic triumph over Scotland on Thursday, which also happened to be the country’s first victory in World Cups, was marred a bit after six of them were injured in celebratory gunfire. Hundreds of fans took it to the streets to mark the occasion, dancing, waving flags and firing AK-47 rifles at Jalalabad, but the spirits were dampened following the incident.

The Mohammad Nabi-led team were set a target of 211 to chase in their Pool A encounter against Scotland in Dunedin, and after languishing in a precarious position of 97 for 7, they made a superb comeback, courtesy Samiullah Shenwari’s brilliant knock of 96 runs from 147 balls and crucial contributions from the lower order, to pull off a one-wicket win.

Congratulatory messages started pouring in from several quarters, including the President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani who tweeted his happiness over the team's landmark achievement.

Congratulations. It was a fantastic and spirited performance from our boys. Well done! We are very proud of them. #CWC15

— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) February 26, 2015

Congrats to Afghanistan on their first win today! An incredible finish. I'm sure they'll only get better too

— Scott Styris (@scottbstyris) February 26, 2015