KATHMANDU, March 3: The visiting Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakshe has cut his stay in Nepal by a day on the wake of terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan on Tuesday.
Rajapakshe was scheduled to return on Wednesday. He cancelled his scheduled visit to Lumbini on Tuesday. He will now return on Tuesday evening. A terrorist attack near the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan targeting visiting Sri Lankan team has injured five cricketers in the morning.[break]
The visiting president condemned the attack. "I condemn this cowardly terrorist attack targeting the Sri Lankan cricket team," Rajapakse said in a statement sent to his office. "The Sri Lankan players had gone to Pakistan as ambassadors of goodwill."
"It´s a sad day for us. Our national cricket team has been attacked in Pakistan," Rohitha Bogollagama, Sri Lankan minister for foreign affairs currently visiting Nepal said. "We condemn and renounce all forms of violence."
Those injured are Mahela Jayawardene, Ajantha Mendis, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana. Five policemen were killed when 12 masked gunmen ambushed the Sri Lankan team and opened fire on it, Cricinfo reported quoting a top security official.
"Unbelievable," Roy Dias, former Sri Lankan cricket and coach of Nepal´s national team, told myrepublica.com. "This is the first time in history that a cricket team has been targeted and it´s a very, very sad event."
The shootout occured at Lahore´s Liberty market as the team was on its way to the stadium. The ongoing second Test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan has been called off.
The Sri Lankan team will be evacuated from the stadium and will be flown to Sri Lanka on Tuesday itself. "We have asked the team to return and are sending a special flight to Pakistan," Bogollagama said outside PM´s office in Kathmandu.
A helicopter airlifted the team from the stadium early afternoon.
"The bus came under attack as we were driving to the stadium, the gunmen targeted the wheels of the bus first and then the bus," Mahela Jayawardene was quoted by the website. "We all dived to the floor to take cover. About five players have been injured and also Paul Farbrace {a member of the support staff}, but most of the injuries appear to be minor at this stage and caused by debris."
International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive Haroon Lorgat also condemned the attack. “We note with dismay and regret the events of this morning in Lahore and we condemn this attack without reservation," he said in a statement. “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."
“I have confirmed with both Member Boards that the remainder of the tour has been cancelled and we are working hard to get our match officials out of the area as safely and as quickly as possible,” he added.
Meanwhile, security for the visiting Sri Lankan football team in Nepal has been beefed up. “We are alert and will provide more security to the team,” Kathmandu Valley police chief Navraj Silwal told myrepublica.com.
The football team is in Nepal to compete in the Prime Minister International Invitational Cup and are scheduled to play Nepal Blue on Thursday’s opening match.
(Bikash Karki, Ujjwal Acharya and Kosh Raj Koirala contributed to this report.)
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