About a dozen gunmen attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team in Lahore on Tuesday with rifles, grenades and rockets, wounding six players, a British coach and a Pakistani umpire, and killing at least seven.
The attackers ambushed the convoy – headed to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day of a Test match against Pakistan – on Liberty Roundabout about 200 metres from the stadium, and fired AK-47s and rockets and hurled grenades at the Sri Lankan team's bus.
They then escaped after a firefight with police that lasted 25 minutes.
A bullet hit Thilan Samaraweera on his hip and another hit Tharanga Paranavitana's left leg. They were taken to hospital and were declared fit to travel home after initial treatment.
Fourth Umpire Ahsan Raza was in hospital in a critical condition because of an abdominal bullet injury.
Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Suranka Lakmal and Chaminda Vaas were also injured. British assistant coach Paul Farbrace sustained minor injuries.
Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene said the gunmen first shot at the tyres then at the bus itself. "We all dived to the floor to take cover," he told Reuters by telephone from the stadium, before being evacuated by helicopter along with the rest of the team, including all the wounded.
Six policemen were among the dead. The injured included seven policemen and two passers-by.
The driver was hailed as a hero for steering the bus to safety as gunmen sprayed it with bullets from all sides. The driver of a bus following behind, carrying the Australian umpires, was killed.
Witnesses saw gunmen with rifles and backpacks running through the streets and firing on people and vehicles around the stadium in the morning attack.
Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer told reporters the assailants had been chased into the nearby Liberty Market, where police lost track of them. Police then searched buildings and stopped cars in a massive security sweep. "They were determined ... it was a thoroughly prepared operation," Punjab police chief Khawaja Khalid Farooq told reporters.
