Sri Lankan Cricket Team Attacked By Gunmen in Pakistan

A dozen heavily armed gunmen today carried out a commando-style attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team and their police escort in Lahore, Pakistan, injuring up to six visiting players and killing five policemen.

In scenes similar to the terror attacks on Mumbai in November, the gunmen attacked with heavy weapons, spraying the Sri Lankan team bus with bullets as it drove to the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore.

The attackers remain at large, having fled from the scene into a nearby commercial shopping area.

Several players and one Briton in the convoy of vehicles were reported to have received "superficial" injuries.

A Sri Lankan foreign ministry official said two players, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana, had been taken to hospital.

He said three other players had suffered slight injuries and the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, an Australian, sustained minor wounds.

The reserve umpire, Ahsan Raza, from Pakistan, was critically hurt.

Reports said seven people, including five policemen, were killed in the attack.

Television footage showed glimpses of the attackers running through the streets with machine guns in their hands and rucksacks on their backs.

The attack happened in Gulberg, an upmarket area of Lahore, at around 9am (4am GMT).

The driver of the Sri Lankan team bus said the militants fired a rocket at the vehicle but missed.

They also threw a grenade under the bus, but it failed to go off.

The bus was fired on from several directions, the driver said. FBullet holes could be seen around it.

The vehicle carrying umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis and match official Chris Broad, the father of the England bowler Stuart, was also attacked.

A rocket launcher and grenades were recovered from the scene.

Police cordoned off the area, vowing to kill or capture the terrorists.

Habibur Rehman, the leading policeman in the Lahore city force, said there were around 12 gunmen.

The shootout with police lasted for about half an hour, he said, but other reports indicated that it went on for 15 minutes.

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

The Sri Lankan team, which had been due to play a Test match against Pakistan in Lahore, is to be evacuated immediately.

A military army helicopter landed in the middle of Gaddafi stadium to take the players to Lahore airport.

The Pakistan cricket team, which was travelling about 15 minutes behind the Sri Lankans, was not caught up in the onslaught.

Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, said: "This was a planned terrorist attack. They had heavy weapons..

"These were the same methods and the same sort of people as hit Mumbai."

The former England all-rounder Dominic Cork, who was in the stadium to do commentary work for Pakistan TV, told Sky Sports News: "The Sri Lankan players are quite shocked. They all fell to the floor of the team bus when the attack happened.

"Some of them have wounds, but I think most of them are superficial wounds. I have spoken to ] Sangakkarra ... he has a shrapnel wound in his right shoulder.

"The team are sitting in the changing room watching local TV. They are waiting for helicopters to arrive to take them to a local army base and wait for a connecting flight to Abu Dhabi."

Cork also spoke to former England opener Broad. "He said it was the most frightening experience of his life," he added.

"Their driver was shot and they had to ask a policeman to drive them to the stadium."

Around 170 people died in Mumbai in November, when militants staged a three-day gun attack on the city.

Earlier this year, there was an armed attack on government buildings in the middle of Kabul.

Today's attack in Lahore makes it appear that terrorists may have adopted new tactics, preferring guns to suicide bombings.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, said authorities did not believe the attack had been carried out by separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, who have fought a 25-year civil war against the Sri Lankan government.

Cricket teams had stopped visiting Pakistan because of the country's deteriorating security situation, with an international tournament cancelled last year.

Australia and India had refused to go on pre-planned tours, and it was with great difficulty that the 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-hit Sri Lanka, cricketers never became the target.

"We are shocked," he said. We have never gone through this kind of thing before ... the good news is that they [the team] are all safe."

The second Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan has been called off.

Raja Riaz, a senior member of the ruling Pakistan People's party, said: "This [attack] is against Pakistan, to ruin our image and get us labelled a terrorist state.

"But we are ready to fight terrorism."

Today's developments will probably mean the end of international cricket in Pakistan for months, if not years.

The Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, condemned the attack on his country's cricket team and called for the players to come home immediately.

He ordered his foreign minister to immediately travel to Pakistan to help assist with the team's evacuation and ensure they were safe and secure.