Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan has questioned the security failings in Lahore.
Sri Lanka off-spinner unhappy at lack of protection in Lahore
Muttiah Muralitharan has questioned whether the terrorists who attacked Sri Lanka's team bus in Lahore on Tuesday had inside information.
Muralitharan, the leading wicket taker in both Test and one-day international history, was unhurt when gunmen opened fire on the vehicle carrying Sri Lanka's players to the Gaddafi Stadium for the third day of the second Test against Pakistan.
But local umpire Ahsan Raza was taken to hospital after being hit by a bullet in his stomach, while seven Sri Lanka players were injured and six policemen killed.
Match referee Chris Broad, who was caught up in the incident in a separate bus along with Raza and the rest of the match officials,
voiced his anger at the Pakistani security forces.
And Muralitharan echoed those sentiments, questioning why the players were not better protected.
Unusual
"Somehow in this incident there were no police with guns on the bus," the 36-year-old off-spinner told Australia's
Radio 5AA.
"If someone was there with a gun we would have had a chance of defending ourselves.
"Normally all the buses go and we have four or five escorts.
"We left at 8.30am, and Younus Khan (with the Pakistan team) at 8.35am.
"We divided into two, maybe they knew the information for the right time. They tried to shoot the driver. Then they were shooting both sides of the bus and they counted 39 holes."
Frightening
Muralitharan revealed he had thought Tharanga Paranavitana, who along with Thilan Samaraweera was one of the more seriously wounded players, would die from his injuries.
"There were gun shots going on and the bullets were passing us," Muralitharan added.
"I saw Paranavitana was bleeding in the chest. I thought he was gone, actually.
"Thilan Samaraweera was bleeding, Kumar Sangakkara was bleeding from the shoulder. There was blood everywhere. It was frightening."
Samaraweera was taken to a private hospital in Colombo for surgery on his knee after arriving back in Sri Lanka on Wednesday morning with the rest of the team.
