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| India-Pakistan |
| Local link seen to attack on Sri Lankan cricket team |
| 2009-03-07 |
| Pakistan police suspect local terrorists were likely responsible for an attack on a visiting Sri Lankan team that killed eight people in Lahore on Tuesday, said an investigator on Friday as Punjab Police chief Khaled Farooq told AFP that an interim report on the attack will be wrapped up within 24 hours -- after authorities claimed the perpetrators have been identified. Right track: Salahuddin Niazi, the officer in charge of the probe, refused to confirm or deny if local terrorists were involved, saying only police were "on the right track ... we are progressing well and will release our findings very soon, but at the moment any comment or disclosure would jeopardise our efforts". Foreign involvement: However, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik said on Friday that he could not rule out foreign involvement in the attack. "I cannot rule out (involvement of a) foreign hand in the incident," Rehman told reporters in Lahore. Asked if Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam could be linked to the attack, he said, "We are keeping this aspect in mind." Rehman's comments appeared to contradict remarks widely attributed to him on Thursday, denying any foreign involvement in the attack. "We have not found any leads suggesting the involvement of any religious elements," he said, but refused to divulge information about how the probe was progressing. Interim report: Meanwhile on Friday, the Punjab police chief said, "A little more time is required to complete the investigation ... we hope to complete the investigation by evening or tomorrow morning." Police have already released sketches of four suspects and have brought in around two dozen people for questioning over the attack, but no leads have been announced despite press speculation that home-terrorists were responsible. "We have identified the people who did the operation," provincial governor Salman Taseer told reporters in Lahore late on Thursday. Up to 12 men attacked the convoy of officials, coaches and players, firing automatic weapons, grenades and a rocket launcher as the vehicles approached Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday. All the attackers fled without trace. |
| Posted by:Fred |