March 05, 2009

Pakistan officials have detained around two dozen people over the ambush on Sri Lanka's cricket team, which has raised new questions about the government's handling of militants.

The detainees were being questioned as police hunted for clues in Tuesday's brazen attack, which left six police and two civilians dead. Seven Sri Lanka cricketers and a coach were among 19 people wounded.

Up to 12 men armed with grenades, a rocket launcher and automatic weapons opened fire in an assault which has stirred up doubts about Pakistan's control over militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

“Around two dozen people have been picked up - most of them belonging to banned or outlawed organisations - in the hope of finding a clue to the identity of the escaped terrorists,'' one police official said.

The official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release the information to the media, indicated the gunmen were not among those detained.

Officials have offered a reward of $125,000 for information about the men behind the well-planned attack.

A large weapons cache, anti-personnel mines and two unexploded car bombs were found at the scene.

A second security official confirmed around two dozen people had been detained in multiple raids in Lahore, where the assault took place. All the attackers fled and there has been no claim of responsibility.

“Some people have been detained and the investigations are progressing in the right direction,'' Lahore city police chief Habib-ur Rehman said.

The attack is a serious blow for cricket in Pakistan, where millions follow the game passionately, and has deepened the isolation of a country now shunned by much of the world cricket community.

In Manchester, match referee and former England player Chris Broad, who survived the attack outside Lahore's Gaddaffi stadium, slammed the Pakistan security forces for providing insufficient protection.

Broad, who said he had expressed concerns for his safety before the start of the tour said: “I am angry at the Pakistani security forces.

“We were promised high level security and in our hour of need that security vanished and they left us to be a sitting duck,'' Broad said.

City police chief Rehman responded angrily by saying it was the police who saved the cricketers lives.

“It was precisely because of police valour and bravery that the Sri Lankan team and the international umpires survived,'' Rehman said.

“Police engaged the attackers for 30 minutes, laid down their lives but did not let the terrorists achieve their objective of killing the foreigners.”

Ijaz Butt, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), also responded angrily and specifically to Broad's statement.

“How can he say that when six policemen died in the attack? I will talk to him tomorrow morning and then give my full reaction,'' Butt said.

Earlier, Butt admitted chances of international cricket returning to his country looked
“grim'' unless its security situation improved.

“If the situation does not improve then it is not possible to host matches in Pakistan,'' he said.

New Zealand Cricket's chief executive Justin Vaughan indicated it would call off its November tour of Pakistan, and the International Cricket Council raised doubts over whether the country could still co-host the 2011 World Cup.

India, whose team withdrew from a tour of Pakistan on security concerns after Pakistan-based militants were blamed for the Mumbai attacks in November that killed 165 people, said Islamabad was not doing enough to stop militants.

Sri Lanka's cricket administrators were criticised for allowing the tour to go ahead by lawmakers and the media, as the team's wounded and shaken players flew home to Colombo on a specially chartered jet.

Star batsman Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana, both wounded by gunshots, were placed in an ambulance and taken to hospital. A specialist who saw them in Pakistan said they may need surgery.

But none of the team's injuries are seen as life-threatening, and the players seem to have had a lucky escape. The militants missed when they fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the bus, and several grenades failed to explode.