Five-minute gap fuels conspiracy theory over Lahore terror attack

The Times,UK ^ | March 5, 2009 | Jeremy Page & Anne Barrowclough

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Five-minute gap fuels conspiracy theory over Lahore terror attack

Jeremy Page in Lahore and Anne Barrowclough in Sydney

An unexplained five-minute delay in the Pakistani cricket team schedule has fuelled speculation that the gunmen who launched a terror attack against the Sri Lankan Test team this week were acting on inside information.

After a furious tirade by the English match referee, Chris Broad, yesterday, both an Australian umpire and Sri Lanka's star spin bowler fed the conspiracy theory today, questioning the level of security and the timing of events.

"You tell me why supposedly 20 armed commandos were in our convoy and when the team bus got going again, we were left on our own?" Simon Taufel, the umpire, angrily told reporters as he arrived at Sydney airport. "I don't have any answers to these questions ... We were left on our own in our time of need."

Mr Taufel told The Times that while the two teams had travelled to the stadium together on the first two days of the match, on Tuesday they made the journey separately.

"One thing I have been impressed about in Pakistan as that logistically they are usually very well organised. They normally depart on time," he said. "We knew we were departing at 8.30 am on the third morning. As to why the Pakistani team left at a different time, I don't know."

He was backed by Muttiah Muralitharan, the most successful bowler in Test history, who questioned whether the terrorists had inside information.

"Somehow in this incident there were no police with guns on the bus," the Sri Lankan spinner told the radio station FIVEaa in Adelaide. "If someone was there with a gun we would have had a chance of defending ourselves.

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All probably resting in some ISI guest-house

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Lahore terror attack: the unanswered questions

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5851191.ece