The gunmen who struck at the Sri Lanka cricket team were most likely "our own home-grown terrorist organisations" and could possibly have Al-Qaeda links, Pakistan's media said on Wednesday, adding they had sounded "the requiem of cricket" in the country.
British daily The Times meanwhile mocked at suggestions in Pakistan that LTTE or another foreign hand was behind the attack. Pakistani authorities hinted at an Indian involvement within hours of the attack on Tuesday.
It said the "absurd initial claim by a Pakistani minister that the attackers were sent across the border by India in a conspiracy to defame Pakistan" was part of the country's denial to accept the enemy within.
An editorial in Pakistan daily The News said the attackers were most likely "our own home-grown terrorist organisations" as there was no shortage of "highly competent, well armed and trained groups within our own borders capable of such operations".
The Daily Times said the Lahore attack was the handiwork of Al Qaeda. "Governor Salman Taseer... stated that the attack was carried out by the same people who had executed the Mumbai attacks last year traced to LeT JuD".
The newspaper said the Al Qaida-linked Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group was probably behind the attack.
The Times said "Few doubt that al-Qaeda or its affiliates in Pakistan's tribal areas were the instigators. Suggestions that the Tamil Tigers were avenging their defeat in Sri Lanka are improbable: the tactics recall the attack on Mumbai three months ago."
It suggested that the timing of the attack was intended as a response to the recent US drone attacks on Al-Qaeda
leaders in villages on the Afghan border.
Lankan view: Why the Lahore attack hurt