Muttiah Muralitharan has questioned whether the terrorists who fired at SL's team bus yesterday had inside information.

Muralitharan, the all-time leading Test wicket-taker, was unhurt as gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan bus as it made its way to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore for the third day of the second Test against Pakistan.

But local umpire Ahsan Raza was taken to hospital after being hit by a bullet in his stomach while seven Sri Lanka players were injured and six policemen were killed.

Match referee Chris Broad, who was caught up in the incident in a separate bus along with Raza and the rest of the match officials, today voiced his anger at the Pakistani security forces.

And Muralitharan echoed those sentiments, questioning why the players were not better protected.

"Defending ourselves"

"Somehow in this incident there were no police with guns on the bus," the 36-year-old off-spinner told Australia's Radio 5AA.

"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 Younus Khan (with the Pakistan team) 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."

Muralitharan revealed he had thought Tharanga Paranavitana, who along with Thilan Samaraweera was one of the more seriously wounded players, would die from his injuries.

"We thought we would die"

"There were gun shots going on and the bullets were passing us," Muralitharan said.

"I saw 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."

Samaraweera was taken to a private hospital in Colombo for surgery on his knee after arriving back in Sri Lanka this morning with the rest of the team.

The incident has brought into question the safety of cricketers and sportspeople throughout the world.

Bleak future

The future of cricket in Pakistan looks bleak with no international cricket likely to be played there for some time.

Some players have also questioned whether they will go to neighbouring India for the second season of the Indian Premier League, which is scheduled to begin next month.

But Muralitharan believes that if cricketers are seen as legitimate targets by terrorists, they cannot expect to be safe anywhere in the world.

"There's terrorist attacks everywhere. Nowhere will be safe anymore," Murali said. "Last time sports people were attacked was at Munich in 1972.

"It is an eye-opener for everyone. Security, everywhere you play, has to be tightened. We travel in groups of 23 or 25 - it is an easy target.

"So in future people should travel alone otherwise the target is easier.

"I don't know (if I will play in the IPL). 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."