A Pakistani official admitted that “very vivid” security lapses allowed gunmen to ambush Sri Lanka’s cricket team and escape, local media reported yesterday, as investigators chased down leads in hopes of a breakthrough in the case.
The acknowledgment followed allegations by a referee caught up in Tuesday’s attack that police abandoned him like a “sitting duck.” Video from the area showed the gunmen sauntering down a deserted side street, apparently leaving with no fear of pursuit.
But other Pakistani officials have defended the security measures, noting six policemen guarding the convoy were killed when it was attacked by up to 14 heavily armed men near a stadium in the heart of the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.
Seven players, an umpire and an assistant coach were wounded.
Lahore commissioner Khusro Pervez said in an interview with local media that the gunmen should have been battled by “back-up police support which didn’t arrive.”
“All convoys are provided outer cordons, but in this case the outer cordon did not respond or it was not enough. The vehicles used for escorting the Sri Lankan convoy were not adequate,” the Dawn newspaper quoted him as saying to a television news show owned by the same media company.
“There are certain security lapses which are very vivid and very clear,” he said.
Police have given conflicting accounts of the investigation. One top police official said several suspects had been taken into custody in connection with the attack. Hours later, however, another denied anyone had been detained or even questioned. Officials reached yesterday said they were pursuing clues in several cities.
Referee Chris Broad was traveling in a van in the same convoy as the Sri Lankan team bus when the attackers opened fire with automatic weapons, grenades and at least one rocket launcher, killing his driver and critically wounding a fellow official.
“There was not a sign of a policeman anywhere,” Broad said on Wednesday after flying back to Britain. “They had clearly left the scene and left us to be sitting ducks.”
He did not say how he managed to escape.
Broad and the players said Pakistani officials had promised to give them “presidential style” security as part of efforts to convince them to make the trip.
“I am extremely angry we were promised high-level security and in our hour of need that security vanished and we were left just open to anything,” Broad said.
Several Pakistani officials denied that, as did the country’s top cricket official.
“How can Chris Broad say this when six policemen were killed?” Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt said.
Two Sri Lankan cricketers injured in the attack were recovering after surgery yesterday, with the rest of those hurt likely be back in action in a few weeks, a doctor said.
Tharanga Paranavitana, who had a bullet lodged in his chest, and Thilan Samaraweera, who had shrapnel in his right leg, underwent surgery at a private hospital in Colombo hours after they returned on Wednesday.
Doctors also removed shrapnel from the shoulder of vice captain and wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara and from assistant coach Paul Farbrace, Mendis said.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, who rushed to arrange the evacuation of the national team from Lahore, said he could “not rule out” the possibility that Tamil Tiger rebels were involved.
The Tamil Tiger rebels said yesterday that they had no connection to the attack.
In an interview with Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service radio, a rebel leader who identified himself as Thileepan had been asked to respond to allegations that the group was responsible for the ambush.
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