At least five Pakistan policemen have been killed and up to six Sri Lankan cricket players wounded by armed men in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.The attackers, reportedly armed with Kalashnikovs and hand grenades, targeted the Sri Lankan team's bus on Tuesday near the city's main Gaddafi cricket stadium, where Pakistan has been playing Sri Lanka in a test match.
Haji Habibur Rehman, Lahore's chief of police, said there were about 12 attackers, who "appeared to be well-trained terrorists".
"Five policemen who were providing protection to the team sacrificed their lives," he said. TV footage showed gunmen with backpacks firing at the convoy as they retreated from the scene, several damaged vehicles and a lone, unexploded grenade lying on the ground.
Rehman said one cricket player had suffered a leg injury and another was shot in the chest, but neither injury appeared life threatening.
A helicopter later landed to evacuate the uninjured members of the Sri Lankan cricket team from the stadium.
Cricketers hospitalised
Police were still pursing the suspected attackers, and have taken one man into custody.
Daniyal Hassan, a journalist with Dawn News who was at the scene, said the attack occurred "very close to the local police station".
"The shooters had fled and no one could see in what direction [they went] ... but at this point they are definitely at large," he said.
A Sri Lankan ministry official said Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana were the cricketers hospitalised.
He said three other players were slightly injured and that Trevor Bayliss, the team's head coach and an Australian national, also sustained minor wounds.
Sri Lankan cricket officials said the test match has been called off after the shooting, and that they are working to get the team out of the country as soon as possible.
Sri Lanka's cricketers were invited to Pakistan after India pulled out over security concerns. Security experts defused two car bombs and recovered a stash of weapons including grenades, three kilogrammes of explosives, a pistol and a detonating cable after the deadly ambush, the AFP news agency reported.
