Seven Sri Lanka cricketers wounded in Pakistan terrorist shooting in Lahore

March 03, 2009

Masked gunmen have attacked the Sri Lanka cricket team as they were being driven to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan, on Tuesday, with seven players confirmed to have been injured.

“The bus came under attack as we were driving to the stadium. The gunmen targeted the wheels of the bus first and then the bus.” – Mahela Jayawardene Sri Lanka's captain describes the terrorist attack on the team bus.

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakarra, Chaminda Vaas, Ajantha Mendis, Tharanga Paranavitana, Thilan Thushara and Thilan Samaraweera were reported to have been injured after 12 gunmen attacked the team bus as it was being driven to the stadium for the third day's play of the second Test against Pakistan.

At least eight security personnel were reported to have been killed.

Paranavitana and Samaraweera were taken to hospital after the shooting, Sri Lanka sports minister Gamini Lokuge said, while Vaas was carried from the scene on a stretcher.

Sri Lanka's Australian coach, Trevor Bayliss, was also reported to have been wounded, but officials said that he had sustained only minor injuries.

"The bus came under attack as we were driving to the stadium," Jayawardene, who was slightly wounded in a foot, was quoted as saying by Cricinfo.

"The gunmen targeted the wheels of the bus first and then the bus.

"We all dived to the floor to take cover. About five players have been injured and also Paul Farbrace (a member of the support staff), but most of the injuries appear to be minor at this stage and caused by debris."

Former Sri Lanka international Sanath Jayasuriya, meanwhile, said on CNN News that all the players were safe despite their injuries.

"But the players are shocked," Jayasuriya said.

"They have never gone through anything like this before."

Pakistani security experts later defused two car bombs and recovered a stash of weapons, officials said.

One bomb was defused at Liberty Square, where the ambush took place, and another at the nearby Firdus car park.

"We have defused a bomb in a white Hyundai and after some time we got information about a suspect car in the Firdus car park," police bomb disposal unit inspector Abdul Ghafoor said.

"We also defused the bomb there.

Local sector warden Malik Fayyaz said that 3kg of explosives, a pistol and a one-metre detonating cable had been recovered.

Lahore police chief Habib-ur Rehman said that masked 12 gunmen attacked the convoy containing the Sri Lanka team bus with rockets, hand grenades and automatic weapons, and that the gunmen were involved in a 25-minute shootout with security forces.

"They appeared to be well-trained terrorists," Rehman said.

"They came on rickshaws."

A police official, meanwhile, said that two civilians and eight police officers who were guarding the players were killed in the attack, which happened as the team were heading for the third day's play in the second Test against Pakistan.

The match has been cancelled with immediate effect, with Cricket Sri Lanka chief executive Duleep Mendis saying the team would be flown out of Pakistan immediately.

"The match is off and we are getting the team back today," Mendis said.

Television footage of several gunmen creeping through the trees, crouching to aim assault rifles then running onto the next target was aired by Pakistan's private channel Geo.
Sri Lanka were touring Pakistan only after India withdrew from their scheduled visit following the deadly November attacks in the western Indian city of Mumbai.


Gunmen attack Sri Lanka players - Cricket - Fox Sports