Sri Lankan cricket team attacked by gunmen in Lahore, Pakistan

A dozen of heavily armed gunmen today attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team and their police escort in Lahore, Pakistan, injuring up to six of the visiting players and killing five policemen. They attacked with heavy weapons, spraying the Sri Lankan team bus with bullets as it drove to the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore. Several players and one Briton in the convoy of vehicles were reported to have received "superficial" injuries. A Sri Lankan foreign ministry official said two players, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana, had been taken to hospital. He said three more players were slightly injured and the head coach, Australian Trevor Bayliss, sustained minor injuries. Television footage showed glimpses of the assailants running through the streets with machine guns in their hands and rucksacks on their backs. The attack happened in Gulberg, an upmarket area of the city, at around 9am local time. All the gunmen remain at large after retreating into a nearby commercial and shopping area. Habibur Rehman, the police chief of Lahore, said there were around 12 gunmen, at least some of whom arrived in auto-rickshaws.
The vehicle carrying the umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis and match official Chris Broad, the father of England bowler Stuart, was also attacked. A rocket launcher and grenades were recovered from the scene. The Sri Lankan cricketers, who were playing a Test match against Pakistan in the city, are to be evacuated by military helicopter from the area immediately.
"This was a planned terrorist attack. They had heavy weapons," said Salman Taseer, who heads the provincial government as the governor of Punjab. "These were the same methods and the same sort of people as hit Mumbai."
IS this the end of Pakistan cricket ?? Cricket teams had stopped visiting Pakistan due to the country's deteriorating security situation, with an international tournament cancelled last year.
Squad member Kumar Sangakkara told the Sri Lankan radio station Yes-FM that "all the players are completely out of danger". "Luckily there's nothing serious and everyone is fine."
The second Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan has been called off, according to a Sri Lankan cricket board official. "We are trying to bring the team back as quickly as possible. The test match has been cancelled," he told Reuters.
The former England all-rounder Dominic Cork who was in the stadium to do commentary work for Pakistan TV, told Sky Sports News: "The Sri Lankan players are quite shocked. They all fell to the floor of the team bus when the attack happened.
Nadeem Ghauri, a Pakistani umpire who witnessed the attack, said the umpires were behind the bus carrying Sri Lanka's players when they suddenly heard gunshots.
"The firing continued for 15 minutes," he said. "Our driver was hit, and he was injured." The driver of one of the vehicles in the convoy told Pakistan's Express news channel that he saw a man firing a rocket towards their van. Someone then threw a grenade, but the weapons missed the vehicle.