Lahore bus driver's dramatic escape

Gunmen surrounded the bus, driver
Khalil Ahmed said

The driver of the bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team that was attacked in the Pakistani city of Lahore has given a dramatic account of the assault.

Khalil Ahmed said that he and the players had a "lucky escape" when a rocket and a grenade were fired at his vehicle but caused minimal damage.

Mr Ahmed said that once he realised his coach was under attack, he drove at top speed to escape.

He said it was only by "the grace of God" that he and the players survived.

'Shocked'

"When we left the hotel under police escort I remember thinking how quiet the roads were," Mr Ahmed said in an interview with the BBC Urdu service.

Mr Ahmed has been hailed a hero by the media

"As we approached the city's Liberty Roundabout, I slowed down. Just then what seemed to be a rocket was fired at my coach, but it missed and I think flew over the top of the vehicle.

"Almost immediately afterwards a person ran in front of the bus and threw a grenade in our direction. But it rolled underneath the coach and did not seem to cause that much damage.

"Soon after that I was aware that the vehicles had come under attack by firearms. I was shocked and stunned."

Mr Ahmed said that it was only after a Sri Lankan official on board the vehicle yelled at him to drive fast that he became "sparked up" and drove off from the scene of the attack "as fast as I dared".

He said he saw several of the gunmen, all aged between 20 and 30, "many sporting beards".

The bus driver, who is now recovering with his family, has already been hailed a hero by the Pakistani press.

How the attack on cricketers happened

1. Masked gunmen ambush the players' convoy, firing at least one rocket grenade, and killing five police officers in an escort vehicle and one other on the ground. Several players are injured. 2. The driver speeds the team bus to the Gaddafi Stadium where the players are airlifted by helicopter to safety. 3. Gunmen escape in the direction of Liberty Market. Ammunition and weapons, including a rocket launcher, found.

Eyewitnesses to Tuesday's attack on Sri Lanka's cricketers described scenes of shock and horror as gunmen opened fire in the heart of the Pakistani city of Lahore.

"As the Sri Lankan team was approaching the stadium for the test match this morning, about a half a kilometre away from the stadium, two cars entered the roundabout... and fired a grenade," said Graham Usher, a British journalist, who was approaching the area just as the attack took place.

"As they did this, three other gunmen ran into the roundabout, where the bus was, opened fire on a police vehicle - where a police officer was killed - and then opened fire on the bus, spraying the bus we understand with machine gun fire," he told the BBC's Today programme.

Players were airlifted to safety by helicopter

"The gunmen targeted the wheels of the bus first and then the bus," Sri Lankan cricketer Mahela Jayawardene told Cricinfo website. "We all dived to the floor to take cover."

The driver of the bus carrying the Sri Lankan team, Khalil Ahmed, said: "As we approached the city's Liberty Roundabout, I slowed down. Just then what seemed to be a rocket was fired at my coach, but it missed and I think flew over the top of the vehicle.

"Almost immediately afterwards a person ran in front of the bus and threw a grenade in our direction. But it rolled underneath the coach and did not seem to cause that much damage.

Soon after that the vehicles were shot at, before Mr Ahmed drove off at top speed.

He said the attackers were all aged between 20 and 30 and many had beards.

'Bullet holes'

Another bus carrying the umpires for the game also came under fire, said a Pakistani umpire whose bus was stopped just behind the Sri Lankan players.

"The firing started at about 0840 (0340 GMT) and it continued for 15 minutes. Our driver was hit, and he was injured," Nadeem Ghauri was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying.

Lahore resident Ahmad Hassan described the chaos on the streets as he was driving to work near the cricket stadium.

"People got straight out of their cars, they were panicking and running in the road," he told the BBC. "All I could think of was that I might be killed by a stray bullet... It was the worst day of my life."

Former England cricketer Dominic Cork - who was providing commentary for the series - said he heard the loud gunfire shortly after he arrived at Gaddafi stadium and rushed into the commentary box to see what was happening.

"The Sri Lankan team bus had arrived with bullet holes all over. There was a lot of, obviously, screaming and shouting from the medical staff of the Sri Lankan team. We could see that at least six players at that time I knew had got wounds."

"They all hit the ground, then there was shrapnel flying all over," Mr Cork said.

He said one of the players remembered thinking, "This is it. I'm dead."

Journalist Graham Usher said police were investigating the scene.

"There are two white cars that were apparently used in the ambush that are being investigated by police officers, and there is the police van that bore the brunt of the gunfire," he said.

Five police officers travelling behind the players' coach were killed

"One of the police officers, we understand, was killed in this van. It is surrounded by broken glass and there is blood spilled and congealed on the seats and there is a real sense of shock and bewilderment as hundreds of local journalists and police are milling around."

Punjab Governor Salman Taseer arrived at the scene about an hour after the attack.

"These [attackers] were fully trained people, the way they were running and the kind of weapons they had... they are the same [type of] people who launched attacks in Mumbai. They were no ordinary terrorists."

Gunmen shoot Sri Lanka cricketers

Gunmen have attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team on its way to play in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

At least six policemen escorting the team bus were killed, along with a driver. Seven cricketers and an assistant coach were injured.

Pakistani officials said about 12 gunmen were involved and grenades and rocket launchers have been recovered.

Officials said the incident bore similarities to deadly attacks in Mumbai in India last November.

The Mumbai attacks were blamed on Pakistan-based Islamic militants.

Pakistani cricket was already suffering from serious security concerns.

Pakistan invited Sri Lanka to tour only after India's cricket team pulled out of a scheduled cricket tour on security grounds, following the Mumbai attacks.

And International Cricket Council president David Morgan told the BBC it would be "very difficult for international cricket to be hosted in Pakistan for quite some time to come".

Evacuation

Reports suggest 10 to 12 gunmen ambushed the team coach and its accompanying police detail on the Liberty Square roundabout in the heart of Lahore, as the convoy was on the way to the Gaddafi stadium for a Test match.

The BBC's Barbara Plett, in Islamabad, says accounts suggest the attack was sophisticated in nature, with one group of gunmen firing a rocket-propelled grenade in order to create a diversion, while others then approached, firing guns on the convoy.

She says the gunmen - two of whom were shown in TV pictures carrying backpacks - seemed to be well-trained.

Sri Lanka's assistant coach Paul Farbrace, who is British, told the BBC: "There was a lot of shouting and people hitting the floor and when I got to the floor I realised that the blood that I could see was coming from me - luckily superficial wounds."

The Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara told Australia's ABC radio that he and his team mates probably owed their lives to their bus driver.

"We had an amazing driver who just kept driving the bus straight through all of that to the ground and that's probably what saved us."

Officials in Lahore said two members of the Sri Lankan team, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana, were sent to hospital.

'Security failure'

The Pakistani politician Imran Khan, a former captain of the country's cricket team, said the Sri Lankan visitors had been given inadequate protection.

"This was one of the worst security failures in Pakistan," he said. "The Pakistan government guaranteed the Sri Lankan cricket team that they would provide them security."

None of the attackers was killed or apprehended at the scene. Grenades and rocket launchers were found there, police said, and a manhunt is under way.

Our correspondent says security forces will be investigating any connections to al-Qaeda and Taleban militants as well as Kashmiri jihadi groups.

A Pakistani air force helicopter has now airlifted uninjured members of the Sri Lankan team out of the Gaddafi Stadium.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse condemned the "cowardly terrorist attack" and ordered the players' evacuation back to Sri Lanka. A plane is being chartered for this purpose. Mr Rajapakse is cutting short a visit to Nepal.

Thilan Samaraweera (L) and Tharanga Paranavitana went to hospital

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari also strongly condemned the attack, and ordered an immediate investigation "so that the perpetrators are identified and their motives exposed", said a statement from his office.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for India's foreign ministry offered sympathy and urged Pakistan to take "prompt, meaningful and decisive steps to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure once and for all".

But a Pakistani minister, Sardar Nabil Ahmed Gabol, reportedly told private Geo TV that evidence suggested the attackers came across the border from India.

He said the assault came in reaction to the Mumbai attacks, and was a "declaration of open war on Pakistan by India".

The third day of play in the Second Test was scheduled to begin, but officials said the match has now been cancelled.

Security fears

Pakistan is engaged in a bloody struggle against Islamist insurgents who have staged high-profile attacks on civilian targets before.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan authorities are waging their own domestic military campaign against Tamil Tiger separatist rebels.

India and Australia have pulled out of cricket tours in Pakistan in the recent past citing security concerns.

The sport's world governing body, the International Cricket Council, last month decided not to hold the 2009 Champions Trophy in Pakistan due to safety worries.