VARIOUS: Six Sri Lankan cricketers and their British assistant coach are injured in a bloody attack in the Pakistani city of Lahore, that killed six people

Record ID: 353552

  • Title: VARIOUS: Six Sri Lankan cricketers and their British assistant coach are injured in a bloody attack in the Pakistani city of Lahore, that killed six people
  • Date: 3rd March 2009
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) TASAWWAUR, SURVIVING TRAFFIC POLICE CONSTABLE WHOSE COMRADE WAS SITTING BEHIND HIM ON A MOTORCYCLE AND HAS DIED, SAYING: "There was heavy gun fire from all four directions. We started reciting verses from the holy Koran. It was indiscriminate gunfire. We fell down on the ground." AMBULANCE AND POLICE AT SCENE / BODY ON STREET
  • Embargoed: 18th March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA2UPTHS1ZX941V4XU14O6IKLE7
  • Story Text: A dozen gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team on Tuesday (March 3) with rifles, grenades and rockets, wounding six players and a British coach while killing six Pakistanis in Lahore, Pakistan, officials said.
    The unidentified gunmen fired AK 47s and rockets and hurled grenades at Sri Lanka's team bus as it was being driven to Lahore's Gaddafi stadium for the third day of a match against Pakistan.
    The driver of the team bus said one attacker threw a grenade under the vehicle but it failed to detonate. The driver of a bus following behind, carrying the Australian umpires, was killed.
    A city administration official, Sajjad Bhutta said six people were killed in the attack. According to officials and witnesses they included five police along with the second bus driver.
    Witnesses saw gunmen with rifles and backpacks running through the streets and firing on people and vehicles around the massive stadium in the morning attack.
    "There was heavy gun fire from all four directions. We started reciting verses from the holy Koran. It was indiscriminate gunfire. We fell down on the ground," a surviving traffic police constable told Reuters Television.
    India on Tuesday strongly condemned the attack and warned of similar assaults in the region unless Islamabad completely cracked down.
    Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram described the attack as a "shocking incident" that exposed the "hopelessly inadequate" security provided to the Sri Lankan players.
    "It's quite clear that the security for Sri Lankan cricket team is hopelessly inadequate. We condemn that incident. We are sorry for the Sri Lankan team. We hope that the players, I read two-three names, Samaraweera, Mendis, I hope that they are safe, I hope that they will recover. We are shocked by that incident," he said.
    A spokesman for the Sri Lanka High Commission in Islamabad said six players were wounded along with assistant coach Paul Farbrace, a Briton. Most of them were hit by shrapnel.
    Star batsman Thilan Samaraweera seemed to be the worst hit, suffering a thigh injury. The other Sri Lankan player admitted to hospital was Tharanga Paranavithana.
    Reserve umpire Ehsan Raza was also critically wounded, according to Ejaz Butt, chairman of Pakistan's Cricket Board. It was unclear whether their injuries were caused by bullets, shrapnel or flying shards of glass.
    Sri Lanka immediately cancelled the rest of the tour.
    A helicopter airlifted the Sri Lankan squad from the stadium, including the two players brought from hospital, and they were all expected to be flown home later.
    Bomb and gun attacks, mostly carried out by Islamist militants linked to the Taliban or al Qaeda, have become commonplace in Pakistan over the past few years because of the government's support for the United States.
    Tuesday's incident had echoes of an attack on the Indian city of Mumbai last November in which around 170 people died and which led to the Indian cricket team cancelling its planned tour of Pakistan. The Sri Lankan team accepted an invitation to replace the Indians.
    It was the first major attack on an international sporting team since Palestinian militants attacked Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
    Until this series Pakistan had gone without test cricket for more then a year because of security concerns.
    In 2002, a bomb exploded in Karachi while the New Zealand cricket team was touring, killing 13 people, including 11 French navy experts.
    The attack highlights Pakistan's seeming inability to defeat militancy spreading inside and outside the country and comes at a time when the United States is putting pressure on the government to do more to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda.
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