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 head is down in shame today. This is about human beings and we are all forgetting that.
The people who died trying to save the players and the players who were injured, even if injury was not serious, those are the people this is about and I am so so very sorry to them and their family. My prayers are with all of them.
We must root out terrorism. the terrorists want exactly this, to spread hate and fear and anger. let us not let them win, please.
Seems like we comdemn these things every week. Over and over again we say we’re speachless. Over and over again these things continue to happen.
Unfortunately this is the beginning of Pakistan’s isolation from the world. I doubt we’ll see anyone from anywhere ever visit Pakistan for any reason for a VERY long time to come.
This is horrible. The stories now coming to light show that this was widely planned as a large operation. Whoever did it, whether the Al Qaida terrorists or Indians,they are enemies of Pakistan because they were targeting the cricketers but also Pakistan and Pakistanis. It is Pakistanis who have died and Pakistans guests who have been injured so that makes me very very angry.
I am also thankful that the Sri Lankan players were not seriously hurt. My sympathy are with them and their families.
Like others I will also say that the security people who died are the heroes who stood up to the terrorists and gave their lives to save our guests.
This is a sad sad event. The forces of terror everywhere are seeming to win. Because they are bringing out the worst and spreading hate.
I salute the bravery of the security guards who gave their lives and am so thankful to God that all the Sri Lankan players are safe. Although I can only imagine the trauma they have gone through. But at least they are all safe.
As a Pakistani I apologize to all Sri Lankans that this happened on our soil, no matter who did this. I also salute the comments from the Sri lankan officials and team. They have all been dignified and instead of trying to raise hatred all of them are trying to bring calm. I wish our other neighbors could also learn to act with such grace.
Again, my heart goes out to all Sri Lankans today and in salute to their cricketers.
These terrorists are attacking Pakistan again. They are killing Pakistanis and intimidating our guests and friends. Only enemies of Pakistan can do something so horrible.