Bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers attacked by gunmen

ISLAMABAD, March 3 (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen attacked the bus taking the Sri Lankan cricket squad and its police escort to a cricket stadium in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore on Tuesday, according to witnesses and cricket officials.

Television channels reported that four people were killed, including at least three policemen, while a Pakistani cricket official said two members of the Sri Lankan squad were among the wounded.

LAHORE, Pakistan, March 3 (Reuters) - Gunmen killed at least four people in an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team's bus on Tuesday as it drove to a stadium in the Pakistani city of Lahore, according witnesses and cricket officials.

Sri Lankan media, quoting the sports minister, said four players received minor injuries in the attack -- Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana.

Pakistan television channels news channels said four people were killed.

A witness told Reuters he believed two police commandos were killed along with a regular policeman and a traffic warden. Shopkeeper Ahmed Ali said the two police commandos had been driving behind the team bus when they were hit.

"It was a very heavy firing and I heard at least two explosions at the time," said a Reuters witness who had been on his way to cover the test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Pakistan only invited the Sri Lanka team to tour after India's team pulled out with security concerns following the militant attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai in November.

Security concerns in Pakistan

September 2001- New Zealand decide not to tour Pakistan following the USA'a military action in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. West Indies and Australia then decide to move their games in Pakistan scheduled for later in the year to neutral venues in Colombo and Sharjah.
May 2002 - New Zealand cancel their tour of Pakistan after a bomb blast outside the Sheraton Hotel - where they were staying - in Karachi.
March 2008 - Australia decide to postpone their scheduled tour of Pakistan for the end of March as a result of security concerns.The decision was taken in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto's assasination in December 2007.
October 2008 - West Indies called off a proposed tour of Pakistan scheduled for November the same year citing security concerns, a week after West Indies Women had cancelled the Pakistan leg of their Asian tour.
December 2008 - The BCCI call off India's scheduled tour of Pakistan in 2009 following a directive from the government.
December 2008 - The PCB confirm Sri Lanka's decision to tour Pakistan following India's withdrawal after the Mumbai terror attack.
February 2009 - The ICC decided not to stage the 2009 Champions Trophy in Pakistan after some of the members expressed reservations about touring the country.

At least six players in the Sri Lankan national cricket team were hurt by shrapnel when masked gunmen fired on the team bus in Lahore while being driven to the Gaddafi stadium on Tuesday.

Six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were killed when 12 masked gunmen on rickshaws attacked with guns, grenades and rockets.

The team bus came under fire as the players headed to the stadium for the third day of the second Test against Pakistan.

Thilan Samaraweera was one of those hurt along with Tharanga Paranavitana. Both are in hospital. Samaraweera is believed to have a bullet wound to his thigh. Paranavitana has a gash to his chest from shrapnel.

Those wounded with minor shrapnel injuries were skipper Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Chaminda Vaas and Ajantha Mendis.

Samaweera scored back-to-back double centuries in this series, 214 yesterday and 231 in the first Test in Karachi last week.

The assistant coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team, Paul Farbrace from England, was injured by shrapnel.

Trevor Bayliss

It was previously reported that Australian Trevor Bayliss, the Sri Lankan coach, sustained minor injuries, but this is not correct, Sri Lankan team official Charith Senanayake said.

Two weeks ago, Bayliss said, "I know Geoff [Lawson] was comfortable coaching here," referring to the former Australian fast bowler, who coached Pakistan in 2007 and 2008.

"The [Australian] umpires are comfortable coming here, the only difference is that we all come here as individuals. The Australia and English coming here as teams, there may be a possibility of being targeted.

"But actually being here is quite different. I'm comfortable here and quite glad to be here."

Australian umpires OK

Australian umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis were both in the convoy that was fired on, but both were OK, an International Cricket Council spokeswoman said.

"They are both fine and we are in the process of getting both out of Pakistan and back home,'' she said.

Match referee Chris Broad was also fine, the spokeswoman said, but she would not comment on the condition of reserve umpire Ahsan Raza. CNN reported that he was in a critical condition.

Dived to the floor

Jayawardene told Cricinfo: "The bus came under attack as we were driving to the stadium, the gunmen targeted the wheels of the bus first and then the bus.

"We all dived to the floor to take cover. About five players have been injured and also Paul Farbrace, but most of the injuries appear to be minor at this stage and caused by debris."

Former captain and star batsman Sanath Jayasuriya said he had spoken to the team and was thankful all players and staff were OK.

"I spoke to Kumar Sangakkara ... [he said there were] little injuries but everyone is OK, under control, thank God," he told CNN-IBN.

"I don't think anyone got a bullet directly.

"I think they have never gone through anything like this before as a cricket team ... it's a terrible time."

Jayasuriya said he had spoken to Sangakara's wife, who is pregnant, and assured her everything was OK.

12 masked gunmen

Police chief Habibur Rehman said there were 12 masked gunmen and police battled against the assailants for about 25 minutes.

"They appeared to be well-trained terrorists. They came on rickshaws. They were armed with rockets, hand grenades, Kalashnikovs.

"Five policemen who were providing protection to the team sacrificed their lives," he added.

The gunmen fled from the area of the attack, and one was arrested, CNN IBN said.

TV footage shows two unidentified gunman running across a yard, wearing sneakers and carrying backpacks.

A number of cars had numerous bullet holes through their windscreens.

Television footage of several gunmen creeping through the trees, crouching to aim their Kalashnikovs then running onto the next target were aired by Pakistan's private channel Geo.

Broken glass littered the road next to a gun cartridge and an empty rocket-propelled grenade launcher. A police motorbike was shown crashed sideways into the road at the Liberty Chowk (roundabout) in Lahore.

Bullet holes ripped through the windscreen of another vehicle and a white car was shown smashed headlong into the roundabout as nervous security officers guarded the site.

Sri Lankan authorities said six players were believed to have been wounded though earlier reports said eight had been injured.

Punjab Governor Salmaan Tahseer said the gunmen were still on the run, but vowed they would be caught.

"They are on the run ... we will get the bastards," he told CNN-IBN.

"This kind of attack can happen anywhere ... but the people of Lahore are not afraid of them."

He said he had met all the Sri Lankan players, and they were safe.

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse condemned the action as a "cowardly terrorist attack".

Test called off

"This Test match has been officially called off," PCB chairman Ijaz Butt told reporters in Lahore.

Pakistani authorities were providing helicopters to evacuate the Sri Lankan team members, who announced they would return home immediately.

"We are providing helicopters to evacuate the team from the ground to an air base from where they will leave," Salman Taseer, the Governor of Punjab province of which Lahore is the capital, told reporters.

"We are going to catch these terrorists one way or the other," he said.

'Flesh wounds'

Gavin Scowell, a director of sports channel Ten Sports, said he saw a number of Sri Lankan players with "flesh wounds" soon after the shooting.

Mr Scowell, who was in Pakistan to cover the tour, told CNN-IBN he heard gunfire and ran towards the Sri Lankan dressing room when he saw a number of players being carried in.

He believed about eight players had been hit, many with flesh wounds.

However there was "no panic", and everyone was "very brave", he said.

Mr Scowell said he saw spinner Ajatha Mendis with a wound to his head, but he was sitting up in a chair and offered a thumbs up.

'Grenades lobbed'

Indian TV network Zee News reported two grenades were lobbed at the bus as it moved from Liberty Chowk to Polo Ground Road.

There was then "indiscriminate firing", it said.

Sri Lanka is to immediately pull the team out of Pakistan.

History of security fears

The shooting came as the Sri Lankan army pushed its final offensive against ethnic Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the country in a civil war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Fears of attacks by Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda have caused many teams to postpone or cancel cricket tours to Pakistan in recent years.

Australia earlier this month forced Pakistan to change the venue of a one-day series to the neutral venues of Dubai and Abu Dhabi when the two sides meet in April-May this year over security fears.

Australia, which also played Pakistan in three Tests at the neutral venues of Colombo and Dubai in 2002, have not toured Pakistan since 1998.

India also refused to send its team across the border amid heightened tensions in the wake of attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai, which New Delhi blamed on militants based in Pakistan.

Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are due to jointly host the cricket World Cup in 2011.

Last month, Pakistan's cricket chief vowed to improve security arrangements for the 10th edition of the four-yearly event and denied there was a risk associated with staging some of the games in the troubled country.

Last month, security concerns raised by other teams forced the ICC to move the 2009 Champions Trophy out of Pakistan.

The elite eight-nation competition was to be held in September-October this year but the ICC was to announce a new venue in April.

The event was originally scheduled for last year but was put off after South Africa pulled out of the event and Australia, England and New Zealand showed reluctance to tour because of fears about players' safety.

In 2002, the New Zealand cricket team withdrew from a tour of Pakistan after militants exploded a bomb outside the team hotel in Karachi killing 11 French defence technicians.

AFP, Arjun Ramachandran, Jamie Pandaram and smh.com.au

Wife tells of Sri Lankan coach's terror
AFP19:34 AEST Tue Mar 3 2009

Sri Lanka's Australian coach Trevor Bayliss phoned home from the team's bus moments after three bullets shattered a window next to him, his wife said here Tuesday.

Bayliss assured her he was shaken but not injured, his wife, Julie, said.

"He is fine but he did have three bullet holes in the window next to him so it was not his time... thank goodness!" Julie Bayliss told Australian Associated Press after receiving the call from her husband just minutes after gunmen's attack in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

Seven players in the Sri Lankan cricket team plus an assistant coach were hurt in the attack, team officials said, with eight police and bystanders killed.

"He was pretty shaken," she said. "There were only seven or eight of them that got away with no wounds at all.

"There was a fair bit of shrapnel around but he is fine.

"You try not to think about these things and then they happen."

Bayliss said the father of two had told her a few details about his terrifying experience.

"There were a couple of bomb blasts before they actually shot the tyres out on the bus and that is when all the players and everyone in the bus hit the floor," she said.

"Then there was the gunfire through the bus, through the windows and the side of the bus."

Australian umpires, Steve Davis and Simon Taufel, were also in the convoy headed to the ground for the the third day of the second Test against Pakistan, but were understood to have not suffered any injuries in the attacks.