PHOTO: REUTERS
At least eight people were killed when a bus and a minivan carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team and officials was ambushed by a dozen gunmen at Lahore’s Liberty Chowk on March 4, 2009.
The outlawed sectarian extremist group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, had claimed responsibility for the attack which dealt a blow to cricket in Pakistan, leading to a boycott by other cricket-playing nations.
According to Punjab’s Counter Terrorism Department, police had arrested a suspect while investigating a bomb attack at Moon Market that killed over 50 people. The suspect revealed to investigators that the attack had been planned
at a house in Lakho Der village in Manawan.
The suspect led a CTD team to the location Saturday night. When the CTD team reached East Service Road on near Mian Town Bridge, seven to eight militants opened indiscriminate fire on them. The police immediately took cover and returned fire.
When the gunfight ended, three attackers and the suspect in police custody lay dead, while the rest of the attackers managed to flee. Police also claimed that they found a cache of arms at the site.
The slain militants were identified as Zubair, alias Naik Muhammad, Abdul Wahab, Adnan Arshad and Ateequr Rehman. A CTD spokesperson claimed that three of the slain suspects were involved in the attack on the Sri Lankan team while the fourth was involved in the Moon Market blast, adding that they were searching for the militants who managed to flee.
A case was registered at the CTD police station in Lahore under sections 302, 324, 353, 186 and 223 of the Pakistan Penal Code along with sections 13-A, 20, and 65 of the arms ordinance and section seven of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2016.
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