Pakistan sends Sri Lanka attack report to ICC

KARACHI (AFP) - The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sent to the International Cricket Council (ICC) an official report on last year's terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

"The ICC received the Lahore incident report from the PCB on August 3," a spokesman for the council, cricket's world governing body, told AFP on Tuesday.

However, he declined to comment on the report, or disclose any of its findings, saying only that "it is a confidential document."

PCB chief Ijaz Butt earlier confirmed he had sent the report to the ICC only after he had received approval from the Punjab government to do so.

"As the Punjab government had sent a copy of the report to the PCB with the instruction to keep it confidential, we were not in a position to forward the report to the ICC," local media had quoted Butt as saying earlier.

The PCB was severely criticised by former players and officials for delaying sending the report to the ICC, which had requested a copy of the document.

The 600-page report was compiled by Lahore High Court judge Shabbar Raza Rizvi, who was commissioned by the Punjab government to conduct an inquiry into the March 3 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team.

Eight people were killed in the attack by gunmen near the entrance to Lahore's Gaddafi cricket stadium, as the Sri Lankan squad arrived for play on the third day of their second Test against Pakistan.

Seven members of the Sri Lankan squad and their assistant coach were wounded in the attack, for which no suspects have been charged.

The attack brought an abrupt end to international cricket tours of Pakistan, as well as the loss of its matches in next year's World Cup, which will now be played only in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Since the attack Pakistan has been forced to play its home series in United Arab Emirates, New Zealand and England.

Experts believe judge Rizvi's report will help the ICC to brief its other member countries about the reasons for the attack and to help open the way to a resumption of cricket in Pakistan.