Sri Lankan Cricket Team in Shooting

Gunmen carried out a commando-style attack this morning on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team and their police escort in Lahore, wounding at least six of the players.

Armed extremists attacked with heavy weapons, spraying the Sri Lankan team's bus with bullets as it drove to the Gadaffi stadium in Lahore, according to witnesses and cricket officials.

Two were said to be received "superficial" bullet wounds. Early reports say that five policemen were killed and three injured.

Sri Lankan media, quoting the sports minister, said four players received minor injuries in the attack -- Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana.

Television footage showed glimpses of the assailants, running through the streets, with machine guns in hand, rucksacks on their backs.

The attack, in Gulberg, a posh area of the city, happened around 9am local time. The gunmen remain at large, having fled from the scene.

Police cordoned off the area, saying they would kill or capture the terrorists. The team had been traveling towards the nearby cricket stadium.

The top policeman in Lahore city force, Habibur Rehman, said that there were around 12 gunmen, at least some of whom arrived in auto-rickshaws.

"Because the police were protecting them (Sri Lankan team), we were the main victims," said Rehman. "They (the gunmen) looked like trained people. The security provided was good."

A rocket launcher and grenades were recovered from the scene. The Sri Lankan team, which was playing a test match against Pakistan in Lahore, is to be evacuated immediately.

"This was a planned terrorist attack. They had heavy weapons," said Salman Taseer, who heads the provincial government as Governor of Punjab, arriving at the scene. "These were the same methods and the same sort of people as hit Mumbai."

Earlier this year, there was an armed attack on government buildings in the middle of Kabul. With the attack in Lahore today, it seems that extremists may have adopted new tactics, preferring guns to the suicide bombings that had become their hallmark.

Cricket teams had stopped visiting Pakistan due to the country's deteriorating security situation, with an international tournament canceled last year and Australia and India refusing to go on pre-planned tours. It was with great difficulty that Pakistani cricket authorities managed to persuade Sri Lanka to tour the country.

Sanath Jayasuriya, a Sri Lankan cricketer who was not part of the touring team, said that, even in conflict-torn Sri Lanka, cricketers never became the target. "The good news is that they (the team) are all safe," Jayasuriya said.The second Test between Sri Lanka and hosts Pakistan has been called off according to a Sri Lankan cricket board official. "We are trying to bring the team back as quickly as possible. The test match has been canceled," he told Reuters.