Islamic Terrorists Strike Sri Lankan Cricket Team in Lahore

Cricket is a hugely popular sport in Pakistan and throughout much of the former British colonial empire. Terrorists struck at a Sri Lankan team as they were being transported through Lahore, wounding several players and killing several police escorts.

At least a dozen men ambushed Sri Lanka's cricket team with rifles, grenades and rocket launchers Tuesday as they drove to the stadium ahead of a match in Pakistan, killing six policemen and a driver.

The attackers struck as a convoy carrying the squad and match officials reached a traffic circle 300 yards from the main sports stadium in the eastern city of Lahore, triggering a 15-minute gunbattle with police guarding the vehicles.

Seven players, an umpire and a coach were wounded, none with life-threatening injuries.

(video via Dustyvet at LGF)

Bill Roggio has more details on the terrorist attack:

The "well-trained terrorists" killed five policemen and two civilians, and wounded seven Sri Lankan cricketers before melting away and 11 security and rescue personnel. Two of the Sri Lankans " received serious bullet injuries" while the head coach received minor injuries, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

The attack took place as a bus transporting the Sri Lankan team was traveling to the Gaddafi Stadium. Twelve well-armed "masked gunmen" ambushed the bus and its police escorts, sparking a 25-minute gun battle, Lahore's police chief told AFP.

"There were 12 masked gunmen," Habib-ur Rehman, Lahore's Chief of Police chief told reporters. "They appeared to be well-trained terrorists. They came on rickshaws. They were armed with rockets, hand grenades, kalashnikovs." Police eventually fended off the attack, and the terrorists disappeared in the streets of Lahore. The attack has led to the Sri Lankan team to cancel its Pakistan tour.

The attackers are still at large, and security in Pakistan remains a huge question mark. The country is rife with Islamists who are hellbent on inflicting all kinds of mass casualty attacks and expanding their influence beyond just the border of Pakistan.

The International Cricket Council has banned Pakistan from holding any games until the security situation improves. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

This was one of the worst attacks on a sports team since the 1972 Munich Olympics when Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes.

UPDATE:
Rusty at the Jawa Report has much more, including the fact that the reason that Sri Lanka was in Pakistan for the match was because India canceled their match following the Mumbai attacks.

So, why was the Sri Lankan team hit? It was a high profile target of opportunity that the Islamists could use to discredit and undermine the Zardari government.

Some might think that this attack would undermine the support for the Islamists, but I think that the Islamists will proffer that it was instead the Indian government, or perhaps the pesky Zionists who were responsible for the attacks. They'll propose conspiracy theories that will spread like wildfire rather than hold on to the fact that show the serious problems with the Islamic terrorists inside Pakistan.