Ambush of Sri Lanka cricket team in Pakistan kills 7

NEW DELHI AND LAHORE, PAKISTAN — A deadly gun and grenade attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team Tuesday, staged in broad daylight on a busy street in Lahore, delivered a powerful blow to Pakistan's national pride and threatened to further undermine the fragile political stability of a nation under increasing pressure from the United States to crack down on terrorism.

The assault left eight people dead, six of them policemen, and half a dozen Sri Lankan players, a coach and an umpire injured. It could have been much worse, police said. A grenade thrown under the bus that carried the Sri Lankan team reportedly rolled out the other side, a missile missed, and unexploded bombs were found in two vehicles nearby.

But the damage to the Pakistani psyche was profound. It was among the worst armed attacks on a sports team since Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the Munich Olympics in 1972 and it targeted the visiting players of a sport that is followed with zeal across political and national boundaries in South Asia.

"Publicity is oxygen for terrorists, and this is about as high profile as you can get," said Gulu Ezekiel, an Indian cricket analyst.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but U.S. officials and analysts in the region said one possibility was Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani militant group angry with the government in Islamabad for rounding up some of its leaders in India after they were named as suspects in the Mumbai rampage in November that left more than 170 people dead. Other suspects include local Punjab-based militants and Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, who have been angry about the government's cooperation in U.S. efforts targeting their havens in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general, said the attack embarrassed the government in the eyes of its citizens and sullied its reputation abroad. The assailants' aim was "to get international publicity and further weaken the government," he said. "And they've achieved all that."

"Whoever did this was trying to embarrass the Pakistan government and create a sense of chaos," said Lisa Curtis, a South Asia expert at the Heritage Foundation and former CIA Pakistan analyst. "This is very damaging for the Pakistan government because of how much the country loves cricket. They love their cricket stars. They are rock stars.