Muralitharan doubts information leakage to terrorists

Premier off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has doubted whether information regarding to the Sri Lankan team's movements was leaked to the terrorists prior to Tuesday's attack in Lahore.

In a frightening account of the Lahore shootout, Murali said the precise timing of the attack suggested that the timing and security arrangements might well have been passed on to the terrorists.

"Somehow in this incident there were no police with guns on the bus," Murali told Australian radio. "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 Younis Khan (and the Pakistanis) 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."

If Murali's assessment is proven, it would be curtains on Pakistan's hopes of hosting international cricket at least in the near future. Pakistan's law enforcement agencies have long been charged of working in tandem with Taliban militants.u00a0 Involvement of local police officers in Tuesday's attacks will intensify security concerns and deem Pakistan incompetent of hosting international cricket.

Though Murali did not suffer any physical injury during the shootout, he said he feared for the life of team-mates while the bus was being sprayed with bullets.

"There were gun shots going on and the bullets were passing us," he said. "I saw [Tharanga] 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."

Murali signed off with a doosra, neither confirming nor denying his participation in the Indian Premier League. "I don't know, we have to speak to them, see how the security is, make sure everything is right ... not only IPL, England, anywhere. I never in my dreams thought we would be attacked."