Sri Lanka sends special flight to bring cricket team home

COLOMBO, March 3 -- Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to send a special flight to Pakistan to bring the national cricket team back home after several cricketers were injured in a shootout in the Pakistani city of Lahore, said the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.

The ministry said in a statement that the president, who is currently on a state visit to Nepal, has also decided to return to Sri Lanka cutting short his visit by a day.

According to the statement, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani had telephoned Rajapakse to strongly condemn the terrorist attack on the visiting Sri Lanka cricket team in Lahore, in which several team members were injured.

President Rajapakse thanked the Pakistan authorities for taking immediate action to provide medical treatment for the injured players and to strengthen security for the team, said the statement.

Sri Lankan Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge told the parliament that six cricketers and a member of the coaching staff had been injured when terrorists fired at the team bus in Lahore early Tuesday morning.

"It was a terrorist attack. The team went to Pakistan with the security guarantees from the Pakistani government," Lokuge said.

The Sri Lankan team was being driven to the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore for the third day of its last Test match with the Pakistani national team when the incident happened.

Most foreign teams have declined to tour Pakistan citing security threats from Islamic militants.

The Sri Lankan national cricket team is a major cricketing team in the world. The team won the 1996 Cricket World Cup by beating Australia in the finals.