India not involved in Lahore attack: Lanka

Sri Lanka on Monday insisted that India is not involved in the recent attack on its cricket team in Lahore, but did not rule out the possibility of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam link to the audacious gun and grenade strike that left seven players injured and eight people dead.

"There is no Indian involvement in the March 3 attack", Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told media persons in Colombo.

"India has helped us in our counter-terrorist efforts. I don't see a need for India to target the Sri Lankan cricket team," he said.

A dozen terrorists had ambushed the Sri Lankan cricket squad's luxury bus in Lahore, firing bullets and lobbing grenades on the vehicle. Seven players and an assistant coach were among 20 people injured in the attack, which also killed eight others, six of them security personnel.

His comments came hours after the Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said the needle of suspicion for last Tuesday's attack on the country's cricketers was also on the LTTE.

It was possible that the Tamil Tiger rebels were trying to distract the government's attention from the ongoing offensive against the guerrillas in the island's north, he said.

"We will recall that on the first day of the attack itself certain suggestions were made that the LTTE may have had a hand in it. It would be surprising if they had not been behind this," Kohona added.