Pakistan identifies attackers
Pakistan said authorities had identified the men who ambushed the Sri
Lankan cricket team and conceded security breaches in failing to prevent
the deadly attack.
Dramatic footage of the gunmen making a leisurely getaway from the
scene of Tuesday’s deadly assault opened the floodgates to criticism
that security forces should have done more to prevent an assault that
killed eight people. “We have identified the people who did the
operation,” Provincial Governor Salman Taseer told a news conference in
Lahore, the capital of Punjab.
|
Lahore 3/3 |
Sri Lanka’s
cricket team were touring Pakistan after India pulled out in the
wake of the Mumbai attacks in November.
Until the Sri Lankan series Pakistan had gone without test
cricket for more then a year and was keen to have international
cricket at home.
Australia postponed a test tour in April 2008 and the
International Cricket Council also put off the Champions Trophy
after South Africa raised security concerns about playing in
Pakistan.
In 2002, a bomb exploded in Karachi while the New Zealand
cricket team were touring, killing 13.
Pakistan is meant to jointly host the 2011 World Cup along with
India and Sri Lanka. The ICC last month asked the organizers to
plan alternate venues if it becomes difficult to play in
Pakistan. |
“We have a lot of information. We have arrested many people, rounded
up some suspects... but the final investigation will be presented to me;
I am not in a position to say more,” said Taseer.
Up to 12 men attacked the convoy of officials, coaches and players,
firing automatic weapons, grenades and a rocket launcher as the vehicles
approached the cricket ground in the city of Lahore. The attackers fled
without a trace. The new footage, captured by closed-circuit cameras,
shows two suspects wearing rucksacks and ambling down the road,
apparently untroubled after the carnage took place.
They then jumped on motorbikes and sped off. Police released sketches
of four suspects. No one has claimed responsibility for the assault,
which killed eight Pakistanis and wounded 19 people, including seven Sri
Lankan players and an assistant coach.
The top government official for Lahore conceded Thursday there were
gaps in security provision for the Sri Lankan team.
“A terrorist has to succeed only once, whereas security has to be
successful all the time. After every incident one gets wiser. You get to
know all the gaps and how you should not repeat those gaps,” Khusro
Pervaiz said.
AFP |
