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

March 04, 2009

The international cricketers' union has warned Indian Premier League organisers they risk losing the game's superstars if they don't respond to terror attacks by beefing up their own security.

The cashed-up IPL stands as the possible next victim of Monday's bloodshed in Pakistan when Sri Lankan cricketers and officials were targeted travelling to the third Test in Lahore.

Recently-retired Test great Glenn McGrath is among those holding grave reservations about continuing involvement in the two-month Twenty20 competition after the attacks.

Former England captain Nasser Hussain said players and teams would also want to avoid India, which saw attacks in Mumbai and Jaipur last year, in the wake of another sub-continental security breach.

Federation of International Cricketers' Associations boss Tim May said the ball was in the IPL's court after a widespread players' survey demanded improved security for the tournament, to kick off later this month.

While 88 percent of foreign IPL contracted players, including Australia's, reported they wanted better security and 83 per cent wished for assessments made by independent security experts, the IPL is yet to respond.

May said the IPL needed to put aside “philosophical differences” in dealing with player unions or risk losing their stars for the 2009 tournament.

“Players have consistently called for independent assessments of security risks - it's a necessary in today's world,” he told AAP.

“Without such review, I am sure that a number of players would be reluctant to participate in the event.

“The most recent incident, albeit in Pakistan, serves only to heighten players' concerns regarding security, especially in countries that have a recent track record of terrorist attacks.”

The December Mumbai attacks caused the abandonment of the Champions League Twenty20, which Victoria and Western Australia were to compete in.

Those attacks, which held similarities to Monday's in Lahore, also played a role in the rebel Indian Cricket League being called off this year.

With cricketers now being viewed as potential targets, McGrath admitted on Wednesday playing in the IPL was weighing on his mind.

“It does hit home a lot more considering being a cricketer,” McGrath said.

“With the IPL coming up there's concerns there too, being quite close to Pakistan.”

Hussain, writing in London's Daily Mail newspaper, said: “This is evidence that anyone can be targeted,”

“I never want to see cricket disappear from any of its heartlands but I'm afraid this emphasises that the show cannot always go on.”

Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, who plays under Shane Warne for the Rajasthan Royals, said he'd be happy travelling to India if FICA were able to ensure the required security standards.

“I was extremely shocked, I didn't expect anything like this to happen to any cricket team travelling around the world - it's blown me away,” he said in Melbourne.

But Watson, the player of the 2008 IPL tournament, is keen to return to Rajasthan if given the green security light.

“You're never safe anywhere, to be fair,” he said.

“It's part and parcel of the world environment at the moment, more than just a certain region.

“I love playing cricket and if the opportunity is there to go to India, I will be there with bells on.”

West Australian and Mohali coach Tom Moody, who also coached many of the Sri Lankan players injured in Lahore, said the terrorists couldn't be allowed to be seen to win.

“We can't step away and seem that we're beaten because of these individual acts,” Moody said in Sydney.

“I'm sure security will be lifted to maximum level and players and officials should be able to be safe going forward, whether it's the IPL or other tours in parts of the sub-continent.”

Michael Kasprowicz, who plays in the ICL for the Mumbai Champs, said India must be treated differently to Pakistan, and expected the security to be beefed up quickly.

“You're talking about a lot of money being invested into these teams and the IPL and I can't see all these people roll over,” said the former Australian Test quick.

“They will spend money to get the best security available.”

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.