Terrorist Attack Lankan Cricket Team

In a shocking turn of events, atleast eight Sri Lankan cricket players were wounded in an attack on their team bus in Pakistan when the players were on their way to Gaddafi stadium for the third
day's play of the second Test match in Lahore.

Gamini Lokuge told reporters in Colombo that players Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana received minor wounds. Reports also suggest captain Jayawardhane was also injured in the attack.

Pakistan's Sports Minister, however, confirmed that six members were injured, out of which two were hospitalised. The minister said that the team was safe.

Unidentified gunmen attacked the team's bus, as it was passing by the Liberty Market area of Lahore, en-route the Gaddafi stadium.

Media reports say that five police personnel have also been killed in the attack and one PCB member have been injured. The Test match have been cancelled following the attack.

Reports suggest that the attackers arrived in a white car and fired at the Sri Lankan convey using rocket launchers and grenades. The entire Liberty Market area have been cordoned off and a fierce encounter is on between the attackers and the Pakistan police.

A witness told news agencies that 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.

Source- TIMESNOW.tv - Latest Breaking News, Big News Stories, News Videos -

this is soo bull ****...not sparing the cricketers as well....!!! yes 5 of the members ve been confirmed to be injured....

u kno...LTTE ppl shud be left @ pakistan....so tht probs for our country is sumwht solved......(on lighter note)

I'm sure, now no team will go to play in Pakistan for next couple of years... I fear the repercussion of this attack on Cricket in India... This attack can set the trend for terrorist attacks on sport persons at India too... It gives them lot of publicity for sure... And it generates fear among general public as well...

Hope IPL takes place as scheduled amid tight security arrangements... And all the contracted players come to India.

What a shame for pakistan... I mean wtf.. Now they're targetting the lankans..Heard that sangakara is critically injured... He got hit on chest.. Damn..I pray he'll be OK...

Man i'm damn sure the rest of the world will now take some stance against pakistan.... Hopefully they (Pakistan) won't come up with comment like india did this as to take revenge of 26/11..

Source:- BBC

At least five members of the Sri Lankan cricket team have been injured in a shooting incident in the Pakistani city of Lahore, a Sri Lankan minister says.

The incident happened when unidentified gunmen fired on a convoy carrying Sri Lankan and Pakistani cricketers.

Pakistani officials said about 12 gunmen were involved and grenades and rocket launchers were recovered from the scene.

At least five policemen have been killed in the attack, police say.

Sri Lanka Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge told the BBC that early reports indicated that the injuries to five players and a coach were minor.

Sri Lankan media reports said two of the players including Thilan Samaraweera, who scored a double century in the ongoing Test match, have been taken to hospital.

"Five [of our] cricketers have injuries, but they are OK. But the players are shocked. They have never gone through anything like this before," former Sri Lankan player Sanath Jayasuriya told an Indian news channel on the phone from Colombo.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says the gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lankan team bus which was on its way to the Gaddafi stadium, venue for a Test match between the two sides.

The third day of play in the Second Test was scheduled to begin, but officials said the match has now been cancelled.

Pakistan map
"It appears that our team bus was targeted on the way to the match. It appears that four of our cricketers have been injured and taken to the hospital," a Sri Lankan cricket official told an Indian TV channel from Colombo.

TV pictures showed two gunmen with backpacks on the road where the incident happened.

The police said grenades and rocket launchers had been found at the site of the incident.

An eyewitness told Reuters news agency that three policemen and a traffic warden had been killed in the incident.

Shop owner Ahmed Ali said two policemen had been driving behind the team bus when the attack happened.

"It was a very heavy firing and I heard at least two explosions at the time," an eyewitness told Reuters.

Pakistani invited Sri Lanka to tour after India's cricket team pulled out of a scheduled cricket tour following the deadly November attacks in the western Indian city of Mumbai.

Our correspondent says the incident will come as a big blow to Pakistan cricket. India and Australia have pulled out of cricket tours to the country in the recent past citing security concerns.

I think LTTE must be behind the scene....is always easy to kill some one in pakistan by renting few ppl

Therez already a thread about this news http://www.indiabroadband.net/sports...tml#post126639...

Anyway I don't agree with that LTTE theory... Whatever the situation might be in Sri Lanka, they never targeted sports or any sportsperson...

Its the Jehadis/Talibanis who can go to any extent...

lol.......i hardly go to sports section....thats y haven't noticed

I hope that all other players are alright & those injured get well soon!

whtever u said mad.....but i think it must be a revenge by LTTE....as they are facing lots of downs by s lank govt.....i dont get the point y al kayada should do anything like that......i mean they have nothing to do with the S-lanka.

Nevermind... There will be few more threads related to this topic...

This attack isn't the style of LTTE... They go on suicide missions with big bombs... I'm not saying al-qayda... It can be any local terror outfit of Pakistan.. Like LeT etc or Taliban... Pakistan has bred too many terrorists on its soil... It doesn't need to import terrorists from LTTE...

Originally Posted by Logik

i dont get the point y al kayada should do anything like that......i mean they have nothing to do with the S-lanka.

They don't have to do anything with Lanka..But they want everything from pakistan.. Talibanis are on the verge to take over pakistan, and they want to cut pakistan from rest of the worlds...They'll do anything for that...

Even i agree that LTTE has nothing to do with it...

And these terror outfits carry out these attacks to destabilize Pakistan government... They want to instill fear in every foreigner from visiting Pakistan...

Pakistan is being haunted by its own created demons...

Originally Posted by itsmemad

And these terror outfits carry out these attacks to destabilize Pakistan government... They want to instill fear in every foreigner from visiting Pakistan...

Pakistan is being haunted by its own created demons...

Fultoo AGREE

There is a chance that they may say that India has done this as a revenge to the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Even if they say so, they are really in trouble. It's now time for India to be on guard. As far as we have seen, Pakistanis have had no patience or a mind of thinking. Their earlier declarations upon the 26/11 attacks made it quite clear.

Anyway, this incident is really bad for cricket.
By the way, I think that this discussion should have been started in the 'News Discussions' thread, because this doesn't subside in Cricket.

India had warned srilankan cricket team about the possible dangerous situation prevailing in pakistan but the a** ranatunga who tried to be a hero said that they will not listen to india and will tour pakistan.
Lets see what will his reply be to this attack

Arjuna Ranatunga is a scumbag with a big bad ego...

Originally Posted by sachy24

India had warned srilankan cricket team about the possible dangerous situation prevailing in pakistan but the a** ranatunga who tried to be a hero said that they will not listen to india and will tour pakistan.
Lets see what will his reply be to this attack

Yes. many had said that they will not fall prey to the words of the Rich BCCI. Anyway, it's not the right time to blame each other. It's time for the world to take some serious action.

Originally Posted by dhaneshv

There is a chance that they may say that India has done this as a revenge to the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Even if they say so, they are really in trouble. It's now time for India to be on guard. As far as we have seen, Pakistanis have had no patience or a mind of thinking. Their earlier declarations upon the 26/11 attacks made it quite clear.

Who cares... World knows that India has nothing to do with it... Its the failure of Pakistan's security arrangements for its VVIP guests!

Seriously that ranatunga is one hell of bugger... And pakistan is no longer able to secure anyone but talibanis

This is gonna be real bad for pakistanis...

Originally Posted by gothic_coder

And pakistan is no longer able to secure anyone but talibanis

:lol::lol:

It doesn't seem that Pakistan is going to take any serious steps. Now, the rest of the world would have to do it for their own safety. Otherwise, Pakistan will become a more serious breeding place for terrorism.

Lets see what Inzamam-ul-Haq has to say about it -

“This is the first time that a cricket team has been seriously targeted. This is the most serious incident that has ever happened. Pakistan’s image will be hit and only time will tell how much damage has been done to Pakistan cricket. The World Cup too might be affected. Preparations for the world cup will start much before 2011 and no country would want to come now to Pakistan. As I said, we will know the extent of damage to our cricket in some time. So I am worried where Pakistan will get a chance to play, not only in Pakistan but outside as well. This is all so sad.”

I'm sure no team will now go to play world-cup in Pakistan... It has lost faith of its closest ally in cricket viz. BCCI & SLC.... Hope it doesn't affect the tournament from being organized at India!

Really after this incident no team should go Pakistan because their internal security totally collapsed

Originally Posted by itsmemad

I'm sure no team will now go to play world-cup in Pakistan... It has lost faith of its closest ally in cricket viz. BCCI & SLC.... Hope it doesn't affect the tournament from being organized at India!

Pakistan's Democratic authorities will surely make the situations even worse.

Take a deco at this. Pakistan has started the blame game and guess who they have blamed......U guessed it RAW
Attack came despite change in Lankan team route
People living in glass houses.............Should not roam around naked

@dhaneshv

I bet they will... They won't want India to host all the matches of world-cup which are originally scheduled to be played at Pakistan! Inferiority complex...

Originally Posted by dunadain

Take a deco at this. Pakistan has started the blame game and guess who they have blamed......U guessed it RAW
Attack came despite change in Lankan team route
People living in glass houses.............Should not roam around naked

We already knew it.

Quote from the article

Hamid Gul, former chief of Inter Services Intelligence, has quickly blamed the Indian external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing for the attack.

WTF??

well i dont think so its anyone else....but its pakis only.....bloody hell it can not be terrorist as thy themselves come on to it....!!!

they shudnt b spared.....

as such aus already told tht if thy are playing wid pakis than it wud b in dxb sharjah but not in their country.....its such a risk.....!

Originally Posted by gothic_coder

Quote from the article



WTF??

hezzzz insane.......India's not got nyhting to do with this ......

Nobody in this world believe that except few Pakis... We shouldn't be perturbed...

Originally Posted by itsmemad

Nobody in this world believe that except few Pakis... We shouldn't be perturbed...

You are wrong. Majority of the Pakistanis would also not believe it. We had once had some Pakistanis in the forum, and they had said that they didn't believe that India would do anything bad to Pakistan without any reason.

Thats why I added the word "few" instead of "most" in my previous post!

The problem with them is the dog that they fed has come around to bite them in their a$$ and they can't even go to a doctor (read US) to get the injections. So they are saying that their neighbours dog bit them....But they need to realise that the neighbours dog has better taste than that....

There is also one another possibility behind this attack. Someone might be trying to bring up serious conflicts between India and Pakistan. they might be trying to provoke Pakistan to attack India.

Any cunning thing is now possible in this world.

I wouldn't put it past Pakistan itself to do this to trigger a fight with India. They are not above cutting off their nose to spite the face.

India is just too much of an intellegent country that it wont be affected by this sort of cheap blame game

whatever it is but in real terms its a sad situation. I think we can continue this discussion even without cribbing about pakki's. Whatever they want to say let then say.

Sangakara updates about the incident -

"There are a few injuries but everyone is safe and all the players are out of danger,” Kumar Sangakkara had told CNN IBN. "We are shocked, but apart from that everyone is okay. Thilan [Samaraweera] has a shrapnel wound in his leg, but he is fine. [Tharanga] Paranavitana had shrapnel in his chest, but thank God it wasn't very deep and just on the surface.

"I had shrapnel injuries in my shoulder, but they have all been removed and I'm okay now. Ajantha [Mendis] had shrapnel in his neck and scalp, but he too has had medical attention and is fine. Everyone else is perfectly all right.

"It's very unfortunate that this has happened. Everything had gone on very well until this morning, but it just goes to show that nothing is as it seems. I don't regret coming here to play cricket because that's what we have been doing all our lives. That is our profession.

"But I regret this incident, what has happened and the situation that we have had to go through. All we want to do now is to go back home to our families, get back home and be safe."

well there wud b a lot of ppl involved in it.....cant be done without outsiders as well as insiders tooo.......

but this is really bad in terms of security......? it seems there was a bomb planted in the srilankan team bus?

I have been following this news from morning ... my net connection was down , thats why i couldnt come online ...

This is a very sad news for the entire cricket world. the latest news which is coming in suggests that - the main motive was to create a hostage situation. the main plan was to hijack the team bus.

it is good that all players are safe. but this incident will have huge impacts on cricket in sub-continent for a long time.

Boy I'm really glad that Indians pulled out of this tour, and for a change our government did the right thing.

I bet pakistan will think this as a perfect oppertunity to ask for financial and arms help from the idiotic americans :death:

yes its really pathetic ... sports persons are the ambassadors of peace and humanity & for them itself they are doing like this,,, and pak said before srilankan team went to pak... that they will provide the same security given to the PM in pakistan.... i guess this is the security they give to their PM....LOL

time has come to completely boycott Pakistan.......

Originally Posted by aashaka_gandhi

it seems there was a bomb planted in the srilankan team bus?

A grenade was thrown under the bus... which thankfully didn't blow-off...

Heard they have rocket launchers also... Thanks God they didn't fire that (Or it malfunctioned )

Yeah Rocket Launchers were found later...

Originally Posted by newprouser

Boy I'm really glad that Indians pulled out of this tour, and for a change our government did the right thing.

I bet pakistan will think this as a perfect oppertunity to ask for financial and arms help from the idiotic americans :death:

The comment i made about the dog biting them in the a$$ holds true for USA also. Only in this case Pakistan is the dog. The problem they have here is that if they don't give aid to Pakistan. Pakistan will turn to China and that is something that the Americans can't/won't allow. As it is Pakistan is receiving aid from China.
Once they turn completely towards China then it will destabilise the power base built by America after the collapse of the USSR.

yes thats also a point but by giving the support to Pakistan they are just postponing the Judgment day thats all.... do you think the pak's will be loyal to US by receiving the aid...? i dont think so.... on or the other day pak has to repent for all its doing.... the matter now is how soon it will.......... for everybody else ..... The sooner the better.......

it was a long plan friends ... the amount of weapons, explosives and food stuff indicates the main aim was to hijack the players' bus ...

Was just going thru some blogs on a newspaper website. I found some entries by some people calling for the world to "wipe out pakistan". Seriously people....
Do they think that the entire pakistani public are terrorists. Has anyone ever checked with the average pakistani whether they want this. Who in their sane mind would want to live in a state of continuous abject terror. The normal pakistani public is as much a victim of terrorism as the people of India who have faced the brunt of man gone mad.
I can remember the faces of people in the trains/on roads a few days after the attacks on 26/11.
There was disbelief/shock/fear for ones life all rolled into one on each and every face. But that has slowly but surely disappeared as people have gone on with their life.
(I don't know if it was real or just a feeling i got...but i felt there were lesser incidences of road rage in the days following 26/11 as all such petty things paled in comparison to the enormity of the terrorist act perpetrated.)
I am sure this is what each and every normal/sane human being goes through after such an attack, his nationality be damned.
Now there will be a loud hue and cry about islamic militants ruining the world...
Why do people associate religion with these people. These people have no religion.
What they are taught is nothing but political propaganda under the guise of whatever religion they follow.
How different were the Ram Sene people who attacked women in Mangalore from the taliban in Swat who are destroying girls schools to discourage them from receiving an education.
Ask the women who were manhandled in Mangalore, to them the Ram Sene were nothing but terrorists pure and simple.
Luckily for them they were not armed or they would have experienced what the women in Swat are experiencing.
Blaming USA for the situation in Pakistan is like blaming my neighbour for lending me the matchbox with which i burn my own house. Until we ourselves decide to change then no matter what anyone else does nothing will change.

Now i have rambled on for a long time and will stop..

I agree with wat u have said except with the part involving US.

I feel US is partly responsible because they provide arms as well money and support to pakistan in one disguise or the other, purely because they perceive India as a milirtary an economic threat.

If they are the self-rightous people they consider themselves to be, then they should had conducted a war on pak to bring them freedom from dictatorship.

BTW great post mate. Repo for you

Its the pak government which is fully responsible for the present situation there. The aid money always goes in accumulating arms and supporting terrorists organisation and now this has backfired upon them. Now its time for their government to take a tough stance and deal with the terrorism in a proper manner.

It was really bad what happened, and to me the only question which comes to mind is that...why?

Incidents like this make people think twice before going somewhere, now all those people who love cricket will have to think whether to go and watch a cricket match now and even avoid other crowded places or where large things are being held.

Originally Posted by Harpreet

Incidents like this make people think twice before going somewhere, now all those people who love cricket will have to think whether to go and watch a cricket match now and even avoid other crowded places or where large things are being held.

Thats an important point you touched Harpreet... People are really scared all over the world now... Earlier militancy was confined to a certain area like Kashmir, Bosnia, Israel... It was on rare occasions that bombs were going off at most unexpected places like 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts...

But now the situation is exactly different... Terrorists have realized that if they wanna gain publicity or destabilize a country, they should pick up the targets of national/international importance... They are getting unlimited funds for it from certain rich countries too...

Now in India, Kashmir is less in news than other places... Thats a change, we have to live with, if the government & security agencies don't get their acts together soon!

Originally Posted by itsmemad

Terrorists have realized that if they wanna gain publicity or destabilize a country, they should pick up the targets of national/international importance...

And what else is simple than picking up sportsman.. They're really soft target.. Imagine what would happen if they able to hijack the bus...
Although my mind says after going through all the incidents that they(terrorist) never want to kill the players. The whole plan was orchestrated just to bounce back to india. To put some pressure on india...

Originally Posted by itsmemad

Yeah Rocket Launchers were found later...

i didnt kno about tht......
thnkfully it was found......

Originally Posted by kirankumargb

yes thats also a point but by giving the support to Pakistan they are just postponing the Judgment day thats all.... do you think the pak's will be loyal to US by receiving the aid...? i dont think so.... on or the other day pak has to repent for all its doing.... the matter now is how soon it will.......... for everybody else ..... The sooner the better.......

i kno.....sooner the better i agreee.....!

Originally Posted by saurav_kataruka

it was a long plan friends ... the amount of weapons, explosives and food stuff indicates the main aim was to hijack the players' bus ...

everytime it has been a plan only.....but my question is y srilankans n tht too cricketers......????

Originally Posted by sachy24

Its the pak government which is fully responsible for the present situation there. The aid money always goes in accumulating arms and supporting terrorists organisation and now this has backfired upon them. Now its time for their government to take a tough stance and deal with the terrorism in a proper manner.

yes......its reponsible for all this as it allows lots of camps for jehadis n all in their country......as such its much more a corrupted country than any other one ......

Originally Posted by gothic_coder

And what else is simple than picking up sportsman.. They're really soft target.. Imagine what would happen if they able to hijack the bus...
Although my mind says after going through all the incidents that they(terrorist) never want to kill the players. The whole plan was orchestrated just to bounce back to india. To put some pressure on india...

huh .....whr did India come in btwn???? its jus insane i feel...whteva act was done.....i dont think so therez any major reason to do so.....well thy neva had any reason to do such things.......geeez its damn scary not to go n visit this muslim countries.....i really wonder wht does USA ve to say n OBAMA...???

Originally Posted by aashaka_gandhi

huh .....whr did India come in btwn????

Because they started accusing india for that

tht is such a cheapster......... only pakis can do stuff like tht....

Has anyone watched the tv lately???

The pak officials are saying that india was responsible for this attack and they have got proof though not even 1 terrorist was captured alive/dead. They said that india did it as a response to mumbai attack. :death: