Brazen Attack: Gunmen Hit Cricket Tour
Gunmen in Lahore ambushed Sri Lankan cricket team with guns and grenades.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 3, 2009— -- At least 12 gunmen in Lahore, Pakistan, threw grenades, launched rockets and fired assault rifles on a convoy carrying Sri Lanka's cricket team today, the most sophisticated terrorist attack in more than a year in what has been the country's safest city.
The gunmen ambushed the players' bus as well as vans carrying police and cricket officials about a block from Lahore's Qaddafi stadium, causing two explosions and riddling the vehicles with bullets, local officials said.
The attack killed five police officers and one driver and injured nine police, five players and three cricket officials, according to cricket and police officials.
Despite what was described by local officials as "foolproof" security, all of the attackers escaped. Police in Lahore have ramped up their activities, cutting off the area around the stadium, conducting raids through the city and searching cars for militants.
Video from surveillance cameras shows masked men in a shootout with police that lasted approximately 20 minutes. In some images they do not seem to be under direct fire, taking aim at the convoy with little cover.
"This was a very organized team and a terrorist activity. A large amount of ammunition has been recovered," Habibur Rehman, Lahore's police chief, told ABC News. "Some people have been arrested and are being interrogated. This was a Mumbai-style attack."
The gunmen were dressed similarly to the gunmen who attacked Mumbai in November, carrying backpacks and assault rifles.
Salman Taseer, governor of the Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital, immediately blamed the "same hand" that was responsible for the Mumbai attack, though he offered no proof.
Pakistani authorities have blamed the Mumbai attacks on Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group that has received training and funding inside Pakistan and is believed to be based in the Punjab province.
"Especially in the Punjabi heartland, where you have some of the most dangerous terrorist groups now, banned by the U.N. Security Council, banned by the Pakistani government, but that seem to still have the infrastructure intact, and seem to be operating with impunity," said Samina Ahmed, the Pakistan country director for the International Crisis Group. "We've seen the attack in Mumbai, and now the attack here in Lahore, and the threats this poses -- not just to the stability and credibility to the elected government, but to regional and global stability."
Cricket is Pakistan's favorite sport and in some cases has even helped thaw relations between Pakistan and archrival India. Today, instead of hosting the match, the cricket turf became a helipad for the Pakistani military. An army helicopter arrived on the field about four hours after the attack to evacuate the cricket team.
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