Afghanistan will face Pakistan, Zimbabwe, India and Australia in the group stage of the 2027 Men’s Cricket World Cup, after the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the tournament schedule.

Afghanistan has been drawn in Group A alongside defending champions Australia, India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and one qualifier.

The Afghan side will begin its World Cup campaign against Pakistan on October 8 in Tshwane of South Africa.

Afghanistan will then face Zimbabwe on October 11 in Bulawayo of Zimbabwe, followed by a highly anticipated clash with India on October 14 in Tshwane.

The team’s fourth group-stage match will be against Australia on October 18 in KuGompo City of South Africa, before Afghanistan concludes its group campaign against Qualifier A on October 21, also in KuGompo City.

The top three teams from each group will advance to the Super 7 phase, along with the fourth-placed team that has the better record between the two groups.

The Super 7 phase will be played from October 25 to November 14, with the seven teams starting the phase without carrying any points from the group stage. Each team will play six matches.

The top four teams in the Super 7 standings will advance to the semi-finals, scheduled for November 17 and 18 in Cape Town and Tshwane respectively. The final will be played in Johannesburg on November 21.

The 2027 World Cup will be jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, with the tournament beginning on October 2 with a three-team Super Series in Windhoek.

Afghanistan is among the 12 teams already placed in the group stage. The remaining four World Cup places will be decided through the Cricket World Cup Qualifier, with the qualifier winner advancing directly to the group stage and the other three teams competing in the Super Series for the final spot.

The group stage officially begins on October 7, with Australia facing India in Cape Town in a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said ‌on Thursday that the Iran-aligned group had attacked a power distribution station in Medina which supplies electricity to the Prophet’s Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites.

The coalition said the attack put one transformer out of service but did not affect the power network. A Houthi military source, quoted by the Houthi-run Saba news agency, ​denied the coalition report, according to Reuters.

The Houthis later reported Saudi strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other parts of Yemen, with ​no immediate Saudi confirmation of the strikes.

A spokesperson for Yemen’s armed forces, which are aligned with ⁠the internationally recognised government, said coalition forces had attacked what it described as “high-value targets” in the capital Sanaa, ​without providing further details.

The recent escalation is the most serious fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthis since a ​UN-brokered truce largely halted cross-border attacks in 2022.

Hostilities resumed this year after the Houthis declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in July and began attacking Saudi territory and shipping, while Houthi forces also made major territorial gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast.

Saudi Arabia ​has responded with air strikes in Yemen and backed government forces fighting to repel the Houthis.

The Saudi-led coalition said ​an investigation and examination of drone wreckage confirmed Houthi involvement in planning and carrying out Tuesday’s attack on the Medina power station.

A Houthi military ‌source said ⁠the coalition claim was a “lie” intended to cover up what he described as Saudi Arabia’s failure to substantiate its earlier accusation that the Houthis targeted the Muslim holy city of Mecca, said the Saba news agency.

Saudi Arabia said two weeks ago it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca before it entered restricted airspace over the city. ​The coalition described the incident as the ​second Houthi attempt to ⁠target Mecca since 2017, while the Houthis denied targeting Mecca or any other Islamic holy site.

The coalition said the Medina attack was part of what it described as repeated ​Houthi attempts to target the Two Holy Mosques and “provoke” Muslims worldwide. It said it ​would continue taking ⁠measures to protect the holy sites and pilgrims.

The coalition also said it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis toward the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait. It gave no immediate details on any damage or casualties.

Local ⁠officials said ​early on Friday that the Houthis had also targeted the headquarters ​of the Saudi-led coalition forces command in Aden with several ballistic missiles and drones. There was no immediate comment from the coalition or the ​Houthis.

UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett has called for accountability following Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Helmand provinces that killed multiple civilians.

“Accountability is paramount after another air strike that has killed civilians, most of them children,” Bennett said in a post on X.

He questioned whether the incident resulted from “incompetence, negligence or worse,” adding that there was no justification for what he described as “irreparable harm” to civilians.

Bennett said the reported incident appeared to violate international human rights and humanitarian law.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it had confirmed that at least 10 civilians were killed and nine others injured in the airstrikes carried out on Thursday.