On 3 March 2009, a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers, part of a larger convoy, was fired upon by 12 gunmen near Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. The cricketers were on their way to play the third day of the second Test against the Pakistani cricket team. Six members of the Sri Lanka national cricket team were wounded and six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were killed.
The attack was believed to have been carried out by the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. In August 2016, three of the terrorists involved in the attack were killed during a police raid in Lahore. In October, the attack's mastermind was killed in eastern Afghanistan during a military operation, while hiding there.
Background of the tour
The safety of touring cricket teams in Pakistan had long been an issue. In May 2002, New Zealand abandoned their Test series in Pakistan after a suicide bomb attack outside their hotel. However, they returned in the 2003/2004 season to fulfill their commitments. Australia had refused to tour in October 2002 on safety grounds. The Sri Lankan cricket team was in Pakistan as a replacement for the Indian team, who had pulled out after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. In order to persuade the Sri Lankan team to visit, the Pakistan government offered to give them presidential-style security, which they failed to provide to the Sri Lankan team. The series was the first Test tour of Pakistan since South Africa visited in October 2007.
Attack
According to the officials, 12 gunmen were hiding near Liberty Square, in the centre of Lahore, waiting for the Sri Lankan team to pass on their way to the Gaddafi stadium. They started firing at the bus when it crossed the road. The Pakistan police escorting the team returned fire; in the ensuing fighting, six policemen and two civilians died. After about 20 minutes, the militants fled, leaving behind rocket launchers and grenades.
The gunmen first shot at the wheels of the bus, and then fired at the bus itself and its occupants. The attackers had fired a rocket at the bus, which missed and hit a nearby electric pole. The driver of the bus, Mehar Mohammad Khalil, had then kept on driving a distance of about 500 metres (1,600 ft) until they reached the stadium. Khalil was awarded Tamgha-i-Shujaat for his bravery. The attackers had also thrown a grenade under the bus, which exploded after the bus had passed over it.
A minivan following the team bus carrying the match referee and umpires was also fired upon and the driver was killed. Simon Taufel, Steve Davis, Nadeem Ghauri, Ahsan Raza, umpires performance manager Peter Manuel, liaison officer Abdul Sami and ICC match referee Chris Broad were in this minivan. The minivan was subsequently allegedly abandoned by security personnel and no bullets were fired by the security forces for twenty minutes. Chris Broad threw himself over and kept his hand on the chest of Ahsan Raza to slow down the profuse bleeding from a bullet injury. A police officer who climbed into the minivan to seek cover drove the minivan to safety.
Security cameras captured footage of several gunmen carrying automatic weapons and backpacks, firing on the convoy from the Liberty Square roundabout. They were later seen jogging up the street and escaping on motorcycles. The video was broadcast around the world presenting pictures of the attacks.
CCTV footage has been made public. They arrived at 8:39 am local time and left at 8:46 am. The attackers were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades, RPG launchers, claymores and explosive charges.
The Sri Lankan team were then taken to the stadium and airlifted from the pitch via Pakistan Air Force Mil Mi-17 helicopters, and immediate arrangements were made for the Sri Lankan team to return to Colombo on the next available flight. The second Test, which was the last scheduled fixture of the tour, was abandoned as a draw.
Injuries
Several team members sustained minor wounds, including:
Six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were killed in the attack.
Samaraweera and Paranavitana were hospitalised following the incident. The others had sustained minor injuries and shrapnel wounds. Samaraweera sustained shrapnel wounds to his thigh, and Paranavitana to his chest. The team's Assistant Coach Paul Farbrace was also injured. Although it was reported that Coach Trevor Bayliss also sustained minor injuries, it was later announced that this was incorrect.
Reserve umpire Ahsan Raza, who was travelling in a van for the umpires that was following the Sri Lankan team bus, was shot twice and taken to hospital. The driver of the minibus was killed in the attack.
Investigation and attribution
Immediately following the attacks, Pakistani authorities blamed the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a militant organisation. Pakistani officials said that the attacks were similar to the Mumbai attacks. Most of the Pakistani press blamed Pakistani Islamist militants and Al-Qaeda for the attacks. Police said that kidnapping was a possible motive, but police officials refused to comment on this.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said on 4 March that he could not rule out involvement of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Lahore attacks. Some European intelligence sources supported this suspicion. Sri Lankan military officials, on the other hand, were skeptical of LTTE involvement, and an LTTE spokesperson labelled reports of LTTE connection as 'not true'. A junior Pakistani cabinet minister said that the government had evidence that the attackers came from India. On 6 March 2009, government officials had ruled out the involvement of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing and LTTE and were zeroing in on Lashkar-e-Taiba.
On the morning of the attack, the Sri Lankan and Pakistani cricket teams did not depart from the hotel together, as they had done on previous days, and the Pakistani team's schedule was delayed by 5 minutes. Statements by Australian umpire Simon Taufel, match referee Chris Broad, and spin bowler Muttiah Muralitharan, referencing this delay sparked conspiracy theories that the militants were acting on inside information. Later, Muralitharan expressed alarm at such interpretations of his comments and explained that he only suspected the gunmen to be monitoring the team movements.
Federal Bureau of Investigation director Robert Mueller arrived in Pakistan the day after these attacks and met with Pakistani officials to discuss security issues and the Mumbai attacks.
Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, told the National Assembly Standing Committee on the Interior that no evidence of LeT's involvement has been found so far, and that sufficient evidence has been surfaced pointing to involvement of a foreign hand.
Security lapse
The Investigation committee found three Superintendents of police (SPs) to have neglected the initial warning. by Intelligence agencies The Chief Minister of Punjab had also tipped off the authorities about a possible threat to the Sri Lankan team a month before.
Arrests
On 5 March, Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, said the individuals responsible for the attack had been identified, but would not be revealed until the investigation was complete. The province offered a reward of 10 million rupees (US$125,000) for information leading to the capture of the militants responsible for the attack.
Police in Punjab arrested over 250 suspects, including 4 who were said to be 'prime suspects'. Police called Muhammad Aqeel, who ran a sports bikes business in Islampura, the mastermind behind the attack, and said that he had received a call from one of the militants at 9:05 am on the morning of the attacks asking for instructions. Though Aqeel was still absconding, his brother, Muhammad Faisal, had been arrested. Police also arrested Shahzad Babar of Rahim Yar Khan after a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card registered in his name was used in the attack along with eight others.
Security officials in Pakistan told The Times that most of the two dozen people arrested in connection with the attacks belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, outlawed militant groups with close links to Al-Qaeda. Aqeel, who is an activist of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, escaped a police raid on his home in Kahuta on 9 March 2009.
Also another gunman Zubair, aka Naik Mohammad, of Zubair, was arrested from Madina Colony, Walton Road in Lahore. He was a waiter at a hotel in Rawalpindi, when he was recruited by Sifullah. He went to Miram Shah and was trained in the use of different weapons.
Other accused including Samiullah, alias Ejaz of Nankana district, Adnan, alias Sajjad, Ajmal alias Ahsaan, Farooq, Ameer of Punjab Taliban, and Umer, alias Abdul Wahab of D. I. Khan, were still at large.
The attack was planned at Tauheed Hotel, and a house rented for this purpose in Madina Colony, Walton Road. The auto rickshaws used in the attack were purchased by Samiullah.
A secret investigative report has surfaced later prepared by the Additional Inspector General of the Crime Investigation Division, Punjab on 22 January 2009 outlining the potential threat to the Sri Lankan team.
Reactions
Pakistan and Sri Lanka
Pakistan – The attack was condemned by the Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari and prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani. Governor Salmaan Taseer stated that the same people who executed the 2008 Mumbai attacks were responsible for this attack. Following the attack, Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik declared Pakistan to be "in a state of war". Pakistani officials also blamed India of covert involvement, citing long-standing enmity between the two South Asian countries. These claims were largely seen as an exercise in diverting attention away from the crisis.
Chief Minister of Punjab (Pakistan) Shehbaz Sharif criticised the current government and said that he had already tipped authorities of a possible attack beforehand.
Pakistani newspaper Dawn condemned the attack and cited security loopholes.
The Daily Times, blamed Al-Qaeda and the Lashkar-e Jhangvi in an editorial, stating, "International cricket is no longer possible in Pakistan; therefore we should stop accusing foreign teams of discriminating against Pakistan vis-à-vis India. The question here is of the survival of Pakistan, not of cricket." The Daily Jang, responding on Chris Broad, Simon Taufel and Steve Davis's comments, said that their "vivid description of the terrifying attack gives us an insight into how people everywhere will see the events of the morning of March 3." It went on to say the "men appeared genuinely shocked over the sight of Pakistani security men running for cover". The paper goes on to say that "their candid comments will seal the fate of Pakistan cricket for some time to come". It also said that Pakistan "must give up complaining" and that "ways to liven up the game at the domestic level need to be reconsidered with renewed urgency".
Sri Lanka – Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa said, "I condemn this cowardly terrorist attack targeting the Sri Lankan cricket team. The Sri Lankan players had gone to Pakistan as ambassadors of goodwill." Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said that "Sri Lanka and Pakistan share a very close relationship and we will take all steps to protect this relationship." The driver of the bus whose presence of mind saved the cricketers was hailed as a hero. The Sri Lankan team praised the bus driver. Then-captain of the Sri Lanka cricket team Mahela Jayawardene praised Khalil saying he owed his life to the driver. Spinner Muttiah Muralitharan also gave Khalil his team shirt.
Others
United Nations – Secretary General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attacks according to UN spokesman Marie Okabe. She also added that "Any attack targeting civilians, in this case athletes, is despicable and unjustifiable, and we urge authorities in Pakistan to do all in their power to find the culprits and bring them to justice."
The International Cricket Council – Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said:
We note with dismay and regret the events of this morning in Lahore and we condemn this attack without reservation. It is a source of great sadness that there have been a number of fatalities in this attack and it is also very upsetting for the wider cricket family that some of the Sri Lanka players and one match official have been injured in this attack. At this time our thoughts and prayers are with the injured people and also the families of those who have died.