Sri Lankan cricket team arrives home

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Source: CCTV.com | 03-04-2009 10:26

A special flight carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team has arrived in Colombo. The players left Pakistan late on Tuesday after coming under gun fire in Lahore on their way to a cricket stadium that morning.

Sri Lankan cricketer Ajantha Mendis arrives at Bandaranayake International Airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, March 4, 2009. (AP Photo/ Eranga Jayawardena)

All of the Sri Lankan team were sent back to their homeland. Two players needed hospital treatment, while five others, including the captain were also injured.

The team bus was attacked by a dozen or more masked gunmen armed with rifles and rocket launchers on Tuesday.

The attack took place at a traffic circle just down the street from the main sports stadium in Lahore.

Coming ahead of a match between Sri Lanka's squad and Pakistan's national team, the assault triggered a 15-minute gun battle with police.

Six policemen and a driver died. None of the attackers were killed or captured at the scene.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the incident had "humiliated the country" and the Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, said Pakistan was "in a state of war."

Lahore's police chief said the attackers resembled Pashtuns, the ethnic group that hails from close to the Afghan border, and a stronghold of al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Sri Lanka had agreed to this tour only after India and Australia postponed scheduled trips due to security concerns.