Police detained several suspects in the attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team in Pakistan, but said Wednesday they had made no progress in tracking the group of gunmen that wounded seven players and killed six police guarding them. Tuesday's attack in the eastern city of Lahore came at a time of mounting political turmoil in the nuclear-armed country and will add to fears it is losing the battle against Islamist extremists blamed for a series of high-profile attacks. Senior police official Haji Habibur Rehman said police raided locations in Lahore and surrounding districts and arrested “some suspects.” He gave no details of their alleged roles, or the precise number detained, but said some were picked up at a Lahore hostel, where bloodstained clothes were also found. “We are after them, and we hope that God willing we will soon get a result,” he told the GEO TV station. He confirmed the arrests to The Associated Press, adding “so far we have not made any headway toward the perpetrators.” The assault bore many similarities to last year's three-day hostage drama in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai. Working in pairs, the attackers carried walkie-talkies and backpacks stuffed with water, dried fruit and other high-energy food - a sign they anticipated a protracted siege and may have been planning to take the players hostage, an official said. None of the gunmen was killed, and all apparently escaped into this teeming city after a 15-minute gunbattle with the convoy's security detail. Authorities have not speculated on the identities of the attackers, but President Asif Ali Zardari said the assault showed “once again the evil we are confronting” in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. Pakistan's Punjab provincial government took out advertisements in newspapers Wednesday offering a $125,000 reward. The ad showed two alleged attackers, one dressed in brown and the other blue, and both carrying backpacks and guns. The image was taken from TV footage of the event. Besides the six police officers, a driver of a vehicle in the convoy was also killed. Seven Sri Lankan players, a Pakistani umpire and a coach from Britain were wounded, none with life-threatening injuries. Mueller in Islamabad FBI Director Robert Mueller arrived in the capital Islamabad and was meeting with government officials on a trip arranged before Tuesday's attack, the US Embassy said, giving no details. By targeting a much-loved sport in Pakistan and elsewhere in South Asia, the gunmen were certain to draw international attention to Pakistan's inability to provide basic security. The attack ended Pakistan's hopes of hosting international cricket teams - or any high profile sports events - for months, if not years. Even before Tuesday, most cricket squads chose not to tour the country for security reasons. India and Australia had canceled tours, and New Zealand said Tuesday it was likely calling off its December tour. One group likely to fall under suspicion is Lashkar-e-Taiba, the network blamed for the Nov. 26-28 Mumbai attacks. The group has been targeted by Pakistani authorities since then, and its stronghold is in eastern Pakistan.
