Pakistan issues sketches; no breakthrough on attack

Pakistani police issued sketches on Thursday of four of the gunmen who attacked Sri Lanka's cricket team but no breakthrough had emerged two days after the gunmen fired and then melted away.

The ambush on the team and its police escorts as they drove to the main stadium in Lahore shocked cricket-mad Pakistan and raised new fears about the nuclear-armed U.S. ally's ability to overcome the threat of rising Islamist militancy.

Seven Pakistanis - six policemen and the driver of a bus carrying match officials - were killed in Tuesday's attack.

Faced with angry finger-pointing over the failure of the police to protect the team, a senior Lahore official said investigators had warned the authorities of just such an attack.

Police handed the media sketches of four of the 12 gunmen.

"The sketches were made from the accounts of a car owner and a rickshaw driver," said city police inspector Asif Rashid. "They appear to be 25 to 30 years old," he said.

Six Sri Lankan players were wounded along with two team officials, including a British assistant coach. They flew back to Colombo along with the rest of their party later on Tuesday.

Reuters