Adil Najam
In this still-developing story, unknown gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus near Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore leaving several security officials dead and several Sri Lankan cricketers were rushed to the hospital.
The News is reporting at least 5 security officials dead while The Times reports that as many as 8 Sri Lankan crickets might have been injured. However, latest reports point out that the injuries to the players are minor, although the shock is deep.
According to an earlier report from the Associated Press:
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A dozen masked gunmen armed with rifles and rocket launchers attacked a vehicle carrying members of Sri Lanka’s national cricket team Tuesday, wounding at least two players and killing five police officers, officials said.
The attack in Lahore came at a time of unrest in both Pakistan and Sri Lanka, both of whom are trying to defeat insurgencies. It was unclear who was behind the assault, but it appeared to have been carefully coordinated. City police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said five policemen died in the shooting and that two players were wounded. A Pakistan Cricket Board security official had earlier said eight players were wounded.
“It was a terrorist attack and the terrorists used rocket launchers, hand grenades and other weapons,” Rehman said, adding that the police were hunting down the attackers who managed to flee. “Our police sacrificed their lives to protect the Sri Lankan team.”
He said one wounded player was hit in the leg while the other received a bullet in the chest.
Sri Lankan team manager Brendon Kruppu said the team’s batsman, Kumar Sangakkara, was among those injured near Gaddafi Stadium ahead of a game. Rehman said 12 masked gunmen participated in the attack. Footage from the scene Tuesday showed the team’s white van with its front window shattered as security officials tried to gain control of the scene in an intersection.
Security concerns have plagued Pakistan for years and some foreign sports teams have refused to play here.Most of the violence in Pakistan occurs in its northwest regions bordering Afghanistan, where Taliban and al-Qaida militants have established strongholds. Lahore has not been immune from militant violence however, and at least one attack in recent months in the northwest has occurred next to a sports stadium. Sri Lanka appeared on the brink of crushing the Tamil Tiger rebels after more than a quarter century of civil war.
In recent months, government forces have pushed the guerrillas out of much of the de facto state they controlled in the north of the Indian Ocean island nation and trapped them in a small patch of land along the coast. The rebels, who are fighting for an independent state for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority, are listed as a terror group by the U.S. and EU and are routinely blamed for suicide bombings and other attacks targeting civilians.
The rebels rarely launch attacks outside Sri Lanka, though their most prominent attack — the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by a female suicide bomber — took place at an election rally in India in 1991.
As reader Eidee Man wrote in his comment elsewhere on thsi blog (in alerting us to this news): “Everything is officially going to hell.”
My heartfelt condolence to the families of the poor policemen who became victims of this senseless act and my sincere apologies to the Sri Lankan cricket team. Thank you for visiting our country and sorry that our politicians did not deliver on their promises of your safety. It is a new low for all Pakistanis…
I have been following the discussion here since the incident and have felt very much same to Timothy.
I can’t understand why the Indians here are making this about India when India is not even involved nor can I understand why Pakistanis are also making this about India-Pakistan.
I am grateful to all Pakistanis who have expressed sorry and regret to my country. It does mean a lot. But I am sad that most people and nearly all Indians have not even bothered to do that.
Maybe you all should step back and try to think beyond your fighting at what all of your India-Pakistan childishness is doing to the region and the world.
Yes, the Pakistani media has begun acting just as shamefully as the Indian media did right after Mumbai. Which is sad.
Can’t understand whythere are so many Indian comments here. Is it just that they like to pounce on anything that will make Pakistan look bad? Since noen of them seem to care about the Sri Lankan players or Pakistanis who have died.
Dear Timothy
Thank you for putting a doze of reality here. You are right, there is something shameful and childish about how we Pakistanis and Indians have been going at it for each other.
As a Pakistani, though, I can tell you that not all Paksitanis are like this and I do not think that all Indians are like this. Media and blogs often attract the most loud mouths of all.
But you are right, I hope people think about what you say.
If you call that a “fool proof security” then I am afraid you dont have a respect for English language.
Now I am mad!
I am sorry but cricket is a lousy game, waste of time.
I know you guys love to waste time, whether its a protest, dhurna, or debate in the parliment. I am going to sound like mullahs or Talibans but cricket should be banned in karachi heat. Night matches are crazy as nights are to sleep or to party.
I dont care if you claim to use fake creams of UV protected and spf 20.
Did anybody tell you that too much sun is not good for you as too much alcohol is not good for us drunks. burp!
Dont mean to poke my nose but I hope that all of you Pakistanians and Indians realize what your conversation sounds like to the rest of the world.
You sound like fighting kids throwing tantrums and pointing fingers.
When the Mumbai tragedy happened Indians became saying it was Pakistan rather than thinking about their security breach. And now with this Lahore tragedy Pakistanians are saying it is India rather than thinking about all the terrorism that is in the news everyday.
Can you Pakistanians and Indians please stop this childish finger pointing and try to solve this mess. The world will be thankful if you do.
I am sorry to say that the Pakistani media is reacting to this exactly the same way that the Indian media did. Spreading hate, sensationalism and rumors. It is nearly as bad as the Indian reaction was and that is shameful.
The only one acting with grace anywhere are the Sri Lankans. Hats off to them and their humanism in all of this.