Well-Armed Militants Ambush Sri Lankan Team's Bus; 7 Players Wounded, 6 Cops, 1 Civilian Killed LAHORE, Pakistan (CBS) ― -
- Pakistani policemen gather beside the wreckage of a police van after masked gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on March 3, 2009.
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A dozen men attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team with rifles, grenades and rocket launchers Tuesday ahead of a match in Pakistan, wounding seven players and a coach from Britain in a brazen assault on South Asia's most beloved sport. Six policemen and a civilian were killed.
An assistant coach was also wounded, but the players' and coach's injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
The assailants ambushed the convoy carrying the squad and match officials at a traffic circle close to the main sports stadium in the eastern city of Lahore, triggering a 15-minute gun battle with police guarding the vehicles.
None of the attackers were killed or captured at the scene, city police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said. Authorities did not speculate on the identities of the attackers or their motives.
The attack reinforced perceptions that nuclear-armed Pakistan is veering out of control and will end any hopes of international cricket teams - or any sports teams - playing in the country for months, if not years. Even before the incident, most cricket teams choose not to tour the country because of security concerns.
CBS News' Farhan Bokhari reported that senior Western diplomats and Pakistani security officials investigating the attack said they were looking into the possibility of the attackers being linked to al Qaeda or the Taliban.
A senior Western diplomat, who spoke to Bokhari on condition of anonymity from a European capital, said the attack may well have been the work of al Qaeda or the Taliban.
Tuesday's attack came just days after Pakistani authorities claimed to have successfully beaten back the Taliban from the restive Bajaur region, near the country's western border with Afghanistan.
"This is a classic example of these militants opening up new chapters every time the Pakistani government claims success somewhere. A question worth asking is, are these guys (militants) telling us, 'you attack us in one location, we'll surprise you in another,' this time Lahore," said the diplomat.
Television video of the gunmen during the attack showed striking similarities to the siege on the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008.
"It was a terrorist attack and the terrorists used rocket launchers, hand grenades and other weapons," City police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said, adding that the police were hunting down the attackers, all of who managed to flee. "Our police sacrificed their lives to protect the Sri Lankan team."
As in the three-day Mumbai siege, the attackers appeared to be well-organized, well-equipped, clean shaven and to have a clear plan. Pakistani officials admitted - after a stream of accusations from India and suspicions from other nations - that the Mumbai attacks were at least partly planned from inside their country.
Analysts and officials who spoke to CBS News widely suspected the banned Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba of staging the siege in Mumbai.
"Lashkar-e-Taiba's foot soldiers may be involved in this attack," a Pakistani intelligence official in Lahore told Bokhari on condition of anonymity.
The official said there was little evidence to suggest that the group's "high command" was involved in planning the attack, but added, "this attack has some resemblance to Lashkar-e-Taiba's tactics."
Western diplomats warned, however, that Pakistani officials would likely draw comparisons between the two attacks. The Indian government accused elements in Pakistan's intelligence services of having links to the Mumbai attackers - a charge repeatedly denied by Pakistan.
"The Pakistanis have said since Mumbai that they are as much victims of terrorism as anybody else. If they now say, 'it's the Lashkar,' we have to verify that independently," said a Western diplomat in Islamabad, who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity.
Cricket is a hugely popular sport in Pakistan, but other nations have been reluctant in recent months to send their players into a nation where the government seems unable to keep Islamic militants at bay. India refused to send its cricket team to Pakistan for a recent planned championship, citing security concerns.
Sri Lankan cricket officials decided to send their team in, after receiving promises of VIP treatment from Pakistani authorities. Indeed, the vehicle carrying the team on Tuesday was guarded by several police vehicles and its route to the stadium had been changed just a day before the attack, according to Sky News, due to a threat made against the team.
Dominic Cork, a former England cricketer who was to work as an announcer at Tuesday's match in Lahore, witnessed the attack. He told Sky that he and the Sri Lankan team had been ill-advised to travel to Pakistan, and that he personally would not ever return to the country for any sporting event.
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.
Most of the violence in Pakistan occurs in its northwest regions bordering Afghanistan, where Taliban and al Qaeda 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. |
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