<http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=78279> Lahore Attack On Cricketers
News agencies have reported that gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team in a gun and grenade assault Tuesday in the Pakistani city of Lahore that killed eight people and wounded seven members of the squad.The attack sparked condemnation from around the world ."The plan was apparently to kill the Sri Lankan team but the police came in the way and forced the attackers to run away," Lahore's police chief Habib-ur Rehman said."They appeared to be well-trained terrorists," he told reporters.Rehman said up to 12 gunmen ambushed the team's convoy close to the Gaddafi stadium with rockets, hand grenades and automatic weapons, unleashing a fierce gunbattle with security forces.The gunmen fled after the ambush, triggering a giant manhunt. Witnesses said the upmarket district, home to many designer boutiques, was transformed into a battle zone as gunmen hidden behind trees opened fire in a sophisticated, coordinated attack."The bus came under attack as we were driving to the stadium," Sri Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene told Cricinfo."The gunmen targeted the wheels of the bus first, and then the bus. We all dived to the floor to take cover."He said most of the injuries appeared to be minor and caused by debris.It could have been worse -- Rehman said the attackers fired a rocket which missed the bus, then threw grenades underneath which failed to explode.He said weapons recovered from the scene "suggest the terrorists were well prepared and organised."A police official said two civilians and six policemen guarding the players were killed in the attack as the team was heading for the third day's play in the second Test against Pakistan. Sri Lanka said it was rushing its foreign minister to Pakistan in the wake of the assault, which Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse called a "cowardly terrorist attack."Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also strongly condemned the "terrorist" attack and ordered an inquiry.Pakistani officials said the attack bore all the hallmarks of the November 2008 assault on the Indian city of Mumbai, which was blamed on Pakistan-based Islamic militants.India's immediate reaction was to say that Pakistan needed to dismantle its "infrastructure of terrorism" and that security for the Sri Lankan cricketers had been "hopelessly inadequate."The attack also came as the Sri Lankan army pressed its final offensive against ethnic Tamil rebels in the north of the country in a civil war that has cost tens of thousands of lives. This is another serious develoment as it shows how the terrorist net-work in the sub-continent is operating It shows it can reach anywhere .In Pakistan itself there have been many attacks of this sort in an Islamabad hotel, the assasination f Benazir Bhutto, the killings in masjids and hospitals.It is indeed a big issue how to contain terrorism , world wide cooperation is needed .It is easy to blame a country or a community . The issue is much bigger than that .Its roots are in Palestine, where sixty years has gone with no solution of the problems, Palestinians in their qwn country living as foreigners and the foreighner immigrants are the rulers. In Afganistan , a festering war is continuing on and off for thirty years .We do not denythat curriculum in some institutions may require revision but this is not the main issue.The main issues are political injustices.Iraq has only magnified it .We hope that the world gets rid of all sorts of terrorism.
