Sri Lanka Cricket Team Attacked; 5 Police Killed in Pakistan Lahore

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March3 -- At least five policemen were killed and several players wounded in a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistans eastern city of Lahore.

The attack targeted Sri Lankas team bus on its way to the Gaddafi stadium for a match, Lahores police chief Habib-ur- Rahman told reporters. Players including Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana were hurt, according to the Sri Lankan government Web site. The Associated Press said eight players were injured.

Police resisted when 12 terrorists attacked the bus in which Sri Lankan cricket players were traveling, Habib-ur- Rahman told reporters in Lahore today. The Sri Lankan team was the target, he said.

Sri Lanka had only agreed to play in Pakistan after India pulled out of a proposed series for security reasons following the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November. The attack is the biggest targeting foreigners since 53 people were killed by bomb that shattered the Marriott hotel in Islamabad last September.

We take these attacks very seriously, Gamini Lokuge, sports minister of Sri Lanka, said in a phone interview from capital, Colombo.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari is struggling to contain Taliban insurgents who have seized swaths of northwestern Pakistan, and manage an economic crisis that forced the nation to borrow $7.6 billion from the International Monetary Fund.

Well Planned Attack

Sri Lanka was contesting the first Test series to take place in Pakistan since South Africas visit in October 2007. Teams including Australia have called off tours to Pakistan because of safety concerns, while New Zealand quit a 2002 series after a bomb near the team hotel in Karachi killed 11 people.

The International Cricket Council, which runs the sport globally, last month said its Champions Trophy tournament, which had already been put back a year to September, wouldnt take place in Pakistan because of security fears.

Nadeem Sayed, a security official, told CNN by telephone from Lahore that two players were seriously injured. The teams are secured now, he said. This is a very well planned attack.

Sri Lanka has canceled the rest of its series in Pakistan, sports minister Lokuge said. Todays match was the final contest of a series that included three one-day internationals and two Test matches.