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.”
Along with every other peace-loving, sport-loving citizen of the world, I want to express my deep regret and sorrow at this terrible incident, and at the loss of life of the loyal, disciplined policemen who died defending their guests. It was an especially poignant note for a policeman’s son.
@Member of an Orphan Nation (I am sorry if there is any minor error in your nickname, I am citing it from memory)
The quality and standard of comment and dialogue in most web-sites of the sort that you have browsed through is deplorable, to say the least. Even in cases where the commentator is well-meaning, the refusal to accept facts, also the one-sidedness is so deep-rooted that only an infinite fund of patience can drive one through such a conversation.
I am deeply embarrassed at your experience. It appears that you have read some of these yahoos at their worst. It is difficult to make amends for their bad manners and their bigotry, but the only thing I can say is that there are very, very large numbers of Indians who do not think that way. This is the vocal and shrill minority that gets heard because of the high pitch of their tones, and the rudeness and bad manners of their messages.
There are such riff-raff to be found everywhere; I am merely taking responsibility and accepting your just strictures on behalf of that particular bunch of oafs who happen to have Indian citizenship. You can have no idea how much decent Indians regret that bad behaviour.
A very sad day indeed. The Sri lankan team came to Pakistan at the time when no other team wanted to. And this is how we protect them??
The deaths of 7 Pakistanis’ r also very sad but the injuries of Sri lankan players r gonna further isolate Pakistan.
No one can deny dat there were security lapses in the incident. The attack took place in a posh area..What if the gunmen went on a rampage like Mumbai?? They cudve more ppl than mumbai. So, the government should stop pretending and admit its incapability.
Afterall, the whole police force has been shook up with sudden postings by the governor.
The terrorists r still at large in Lahore. And only Allah knows what they’r planning next.
I suggest the SSG commandos should b brought in now for a search n kill operation b4 its too late. V should learn from Mumbai’s experience. Act as fast as u can to minimize civilian casualities..
death of Pakistan cricket…no one is going to come here anymore..
I’ve a suggestion. All readers of Pakistaniat.com should email Mr. Duleep Mendis at ceo@srilankacricket.lk, the chief Executive Officer of Sri Lankan Cricket Board, with our deepest condolence with the Lankan Team.
I don’t care about what Indian propagandists say. they are too full of hatred to feel for the Pakistani security guards who have died or the Sri lankan players who have been injured.
My heart cries and in my eyes there are literally tears for Sri Lanka today. They have stood by Pakistan and even in their statements after the attack they have shown gracefullness. Thank you Sri Lanka and I cry for you today that we were not able to stop this. But we must do everything now to get the culprits, whoever they are.