Pak team in Sri Lanka to probe Lahore attack on cricketers

T V Sriram and Rezaul H Laskar

Colombo/Islamabad, Oct 8 (PTI) A Pakistani probe team
has arrived in Sri Lanka to investigate whether there were any
local links, including the possibility of the role of LTTE
(Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), on the attack on the
Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March.

The visit by the four-member team comes more than a
month after Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had told him that
elements from his country may have been involved in the brazen
attack on the cricket team.

"A four-member team arrived here yesterday. They are
expected to spend some time here in this connection (to probe
any local links to the attack)," official sources in Colombo
said.

They said the team would probe the role of local
links, including any possibility of LTTE role, to the attack
in Lahore on March three that killed eight persons and injured
20 others including some Lankan players.

In Islamabad, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the
team is investigating whether there are any Sri Lankan links
to the attack.

"It will also review the probe conducted by Sri Lankan
authorities into the same incident. The Pakistani team has
gone to Sri Lanka for two weeks though the duration of the
trip can be extended," he said. (MORE) PTI