The Hindu : Front Page : Terrorists do a Mumbai in Lahore

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Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009
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Terrorists do a Mumbai in Lahore

Nirupama Subramanian

There are indications that the attackers may have planned to take the cricketers hostage

— Photos: AFP

Security officials display the weapons discarded by the terrorists as they fled.

ISLAMABAD: Before Tuesday, Pakistan had seen hundreds of terrorist attacks by suicide bombers, but nothing resembling the strike on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, ominously similar to the Mumbai carnage.

As captured on television footage, the attackers were a throwback to the Mumbai gunmen, as they ran with rucksacks on their backs and sports shoes on their feet. Like the Mumbai attackers, some were wearing jeans and jackets. Even the supplies they were carrying seemed identical.

Police said that rucksacks abandoned by the gunmen contained huge quantities of weapons: pistols, small machine guns with spare magazines, hand grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket launchers, plastic explosives, wireless talking sets and cell phones. They also contained bottles of mineral water, dry fruit and packets of biscuits and protein supplements.

Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said the attackers hit the convoy “from all directions” as it slowed down to turn a roundabout at the well-known Liberty Chowk in the heart of Lahore.

Some media analysts pointed out that before targeting the coach carrying the cricketers, the terrorists hit the police escort. They said this was an indication that the attackers might have wanted to take the cricketers hostage, just as the Mumbai attackers did at the Taj and the Oberoi.

Police said the commando-style operation was carried out by 10 to 12 men. Some of them might have arrived at the site of the attack in autorickshaws and took cover in several spots around Liberty Chowk, while at least one may have used a white car.

— Photos: AFP

Daring attack: In this image taken from television, gunmen are seen firing at the vehicle carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on Tuesday.

The attackers first fired a rocket-propelled grenade that hit a wall and destroyed it, and then sprayed bullets at a police double-cab following the coach transporting the cricketers. Another vehicle with the umpires was also hit.

The bus driver said the cricketers, who knew immediately they were under attack, urged him to keep driving. The attackers apparently also used the white car to try and stop the coach, but hit the roundabout, where it was later found abandoned. It was only after this that the coach itself came under fire, with bullets hitting its tyres and some going through the windows.

But the coach driver kept his cool and, led by a police vehicle that was at the front of the convoy, drove on towards the stadium, an act that was instrumental in saving the lives of the cricketers.

This was perhaps the first attack specifically targeting sportsmen after the 1972 massacre at the Munich Olympics, and commentators predicted it would reinforce the view that Pakistan is the “most dangerous place” in the world, and once again draw attention to its track record of militancy and extremism. Cricket fans are also worried that the attack would have an adverse impact on the way cricket is both played and followed in South Asia.

Photo Gallery: Sri Lankan team attacked

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