Terrorists attack Sri Lanka cricket team in Lahore

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-04 07:58

LAHORE, Pakistan -- At least a dozen men attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team with rifles, grenades and rocket launchers yesterday ahead of a match in Pakistan, wounding seven players, an umpire and an assistant coach from Britain in a brazen assault on South Asia's most beloved sport.

Six policemen and a driver were killed.

Pakistani policemen survey the area next to the wreckage of a police van after masked gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. [China Daily]

The players' and the coach's injuries were not life-threatening, officials said. The umpire was in critical condition.

In a coordinated attack, the assailants ambushed the convoy carrying the squad and match officials at a traffic circle near the main sports stadium in the eastern city of Lahore, triggering a 15-minute gunbattle with police guarding the vehicles.

None of the attackers was killed or captured at the scene, city police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said. Authorities did not speculate on the identities of the attackers or their motives.

Yesterday's attack came three months after the Mumbai terror strikes that killed 164 people. Both were coordinated attacks, used multiple gunmen, apparently in teams of two, who were armed with explosives and assault rifles, carried backpacks and apparently had little fear of death or capture.

Pakistan is battling a ferocious insurgency by Islamist militants with links to Al-Qaida who have staged high-profile attacks on civilian targets before.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa condemned the attack and ordered his foreign minister to immediately travel to Pakistan to help assist in the team's evacuation and ensure they are safe.

Witness and officials said the attackers opened fire and hit the team bus with automatic weapons from several locations as it traveled to the stadium, but did not manage to stop the vehicle - something that likely saved the squad from a worse fate.

TV footage of the attack showed at least one pair of gunmen with backpacks firing from a stretch of grass and taking cover behind a small monument before moving on. It was taken from a building overlooking the site of the ambush.

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