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Ammunition recovered near and at the site of the shooting attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team - Source: Reuters -
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Pakistan is facing tough questions about its ability and willingness to fight Islamic militants after a deadly ambush on Sri Lanka's cricket team.
Gunmen killed six Pakistani police officers and two civilians in Tuesday's brazen daylight attack on the team, who were on their way to a Test match in the city of Lahore. Seven Sri Lankan cricketers and an assistant coach were among 19 wounded.
The attack is likely to have ended international cricket in Pakistan for now.It has also heightened concerns that radical Islamists linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban are extending their ability to strike targets across the nation.
Police said five people were being questioned but declined to speculate about the identity of the attackers who opened fire on the team bus with grenades and guns.
They battled with security forces before escaping.
The attack, condemned by world leaders, is a serious blow for cricket in Pakistan, where millions follow the game passionately.
International reaction
It has deepened the isolation of a country already shunned by much of the world cricket community.
"This is a shameful, cowardly attack by terrorists on innocent cricketers that deserves universal condemnation," Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said none of the five Australians travelling with the Sri Lankan team, including coach Trevor Bayliss and reserve umpires Steve Davis and Simon Taufel, had been injured, but were shaken by the attack.
Australia has offered Pakistan police assistance to help catch the killers.
New Zealand indicated it would call off its November tour of Pakistan, and the International Cricket Council raised doubts over whether the country could still co-host the 2011 World Cup.
"I don't think any international team will be going to Pakistan in the foreseeable future," New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said.
India, whose team withdrew from a tour of Pakistan on security concerns after Pakistan-based militants were blamed for the Mumbai attacks in November that killed 165 people, said Islamabad was not doing enough to stop militants.
Militant safe haven
More than 1,600 people have been killed in attacks in Pakistan in the past 22 months.
Militants have forged a de facto safe haven in the country's rugged and lawless northwest along the border with Afghanistan.
Pakistan's ISI military intelligence agency has fostered Islamist militant groups in Kashmir and Afghanistan over decades, and there are suspicions that some ISI elements have links to militants inside Pakistan.
Officials have offered a reward of $US125,000 for information about the attackers.
Tuesday's assault was apparently well planned, and Lahore police chief Habib-ur Rehman said anti-personnel mines and two unexploded car bombs were recovered from the scene.
"The high quantity of weapons recovered from the site of the attack suggest the terrorists were well prepared and organised," he said.
Sri Lankan team home
Sri Lanka's cricket administrators were criticised for allowing the tour to go ahead, as the team's wounded and shaken players flew home to Colombo on a specially chartered jet.
Star batsman Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana, both wounded by gunshots, were loaded into an ambulance and taken tohospital. A specialist who saw them in Pakistan said they may need surgery.
No members of the team suffered life-threatening injuries.
The militants missed when they fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the bus, and several grenades failed to explode.
"There were just these images of life flashing through my mind - all the while bullets were being sprayed at our bus, people around me were shouting," said star bowler Muttiah Muralitharan.
Captain Mahela Jayawardene lauded their driver's "remarkable bravery" in the face of the attack.
"Had he not had the courage and presence of mind to get the bus moving after the initial attack, then we'd have been a far easier target for the terrorists," he said.
It was the first deadly direct assault against a sports team in Pakistan and left the world cricket community in shock.
"By targeting something that is so dear to the hearts of most Pakistanis, the one thing that allowed Pakistan normal engagement with the West, this attack has ensured further isolation there," former England captain Mike Atherton said.
The Age newspaper in Australia said: "The Sri Lankan team airlifted out of the Gaddafi Stadium is likely to be the last to tour Pakistan for a generation."
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