Shootout in Lahore: 6 Lankan cricketers wounded

This combination of pictures shows Sri Lankan cricketers from top, left to right, Ajantha Mendis, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and, from btoom left to right, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana together with team coach Paul Farbrace. The extent of their injuries could not be immediately ascertained. Samaraweera became only the seventh batsmen in Test cricket to notch a double hundred in consecutive matches. On Monday, Samaraweera scored 214 after a 231 in the drawn first Test. Masked gunmen opened fire on the Sri Lankan cricket team's bus in Lahore on Tuesday, killing at least eight people and wounding six team members, police said. Up to 12 gunmen attacked the team's convoy near the Gaddafi stadium with rockets, hand grenades and automatic weapons, triggering a 25-minute gunbattle with security forces, said Lahore police chief chief Habib-ur Rehman. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has condemned the attack on his country's cricket team in Pakistan and called for the players to come home immediately.Rajapaksa called the attack cowardly. He ordered his foreign minister to immediately travel to Pakistan to help assist in the team's evacuation and ensure they are safe and secure. Rajapaksa is currenly on a visit to Nepal. Sri Lanka's military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara says authorities do not believe the attack was carried out by the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels. Sri Lanka cricket captain Mahela Jayawardene said that the players dived to the floor of the bus to take cover when the team bus came under heavy fire from terrorists, on the way to Gaddafi Stadium for the Test match Tuesday. "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," Jayawardene was quoted as saying by Cricinfo. "We all dived to the floor to take cover. About five players have been injured and also Paul Farbrace (a member of the support staff), but most of the injuries appear to be minor at this stage and caused by debris," he said.

Bollywood star and owner of one of the IPL franchise teams Kings XI Punjab, Priety Zinta, speaks to the media about the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan, during the first one-day international match between New Zealand and India in Napier Tuesday. India won the toss and scored 273-4 from their 38 overs in the rain affected match.

Bollywood star and owner of one of the IPL franchise teams Kings XI Punjab, Priety Zinta, wipes an eye before speaking to the media about the terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan, in Napier, New Zeland.

Pakistan's cricket team captain Younus Khan walks past a bullet–ridden bus which was carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team, parked outside the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore Tuesday

Pakistani paramedics transport injured Sri Lankan cricketer Thilan Samaraweeraa on a stretcher at a hospital following a deadly ambush on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore Tuesday.

Sri Lankan cricket team members disembark from a Pakistani military helicopter onto the playing surface at The National Stadium in Lahore Tuesday.

A Pakistani EDHI volunteer covers the body of a policeman after masked gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore Tuesday. A Lahore police spokesman confirmed that eight - two civilians and six polices officers guarding the players - were killed in the attack which happened as the team was heading for the third day's play in the second cricket Test against Pakistan at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Several policemen were also injured in the attack. Former Pakistan Test cricketer Ahsan Raza, who was the reserve umpire for the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series, was critically injured in the attacks on the Sri Lankan team here Tuesday morning, TV reports said.Raza, a former spinner, had played nine Tests and 49 One-day Internationals. He recently turned an international umpire. Raza was travelling in the umpires' van that was going with the Sri Lankan team bus to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day's play of the second Test when the caravan came under fire from unidentified gunmen. According to TV reports, Raza is currently being treated at a hospital here.

Pakistani policemen inspect a police van after masked gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team on Tuesday in Lahore. Punjab Governor Salman Taseer said that the terrorists who attacked the Sri Lankan team were the same who had struck in Mumbai."It was a planned terrorist act on the pattern of the attack on Mumbai. I believe the same terrorists are involved in both the incidents," Taseer told reporters. At least, 170 people were killed in the Mumbai terror attack that began on Nov 26 last year and ended only 60 hours later. Sri Lanka called off the tour and immediately recalled its team after the attack

Pakistani policemen inspect a police vehicle after masked gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on Tuesday. The Sri Lankan team was in Pakistan to play in place of India that had pulled out of the series after the Nov 26-29 Mumbai carnage that was blamed on Pakistani terrorists.

Pakistani policemen gather beside the wreckage of a police van after masked gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore . Father of the outgoing team skipper Mahela Jayawardene said his son had called his wife from Lahore to say that he too had suffered minor injuries in his leg during the attack that had shocked the nation.

A Pakistani policemen inspects a police vehicle after masked gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team. Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary P. Kohona said he had spoken to the Pakistani authorities and had been assured of all help. "My understanding is that the injuries are not serious, they are superficial. The cricketers are valuable assets of the country, they are the pride and joy of the country," he told a television channel. "It is appalling that anybody should have targeted a sporting team in such a brutal manner. The attitude of targeting sportsmen must change," he added, stating that the players would be back on the first available commercial flight.

A Pakistani policeman gathers evidence after masked gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team. "Six of our players were wounded during the shooting incident targeting the Test team travelling to the match venue at Lahore. We are very concerned about this incident," Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge said in Colombo. The minister said the players, other than Thilan Samaraweera and the team's assistant coach, had been discharged from the hospital after being treated for their injuries.

A Pakistani policemen inspects a police motorcycle after the terror attack. According to Lahore police, at least 12 terrorists armed with rocket launchers, automatic weapons like kalashnikovs and hand grenades carried out the attack and the exchange of fire lasted for about 25 minutes near Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

A Pakistani policeman holds an empty rocket launcher after masked gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team. Source: PTI, AP and Indo-Asian News Service