Eight people were killed and seven Sri Lankan cricketers and their coach were wounded when up to 12 gunmen attacked the squad's convoy near the Gaddafi stadium with rockets, hand grenades and automatic weapons, police said.

The brazen attack shocked and saddened Australian cricket, whose national team have not toured Pakistan since 1998 over security fears.

The players' union chief executive officer Paul Marsh said the attack would have huge ramifications for Pakistani cricket.

No cricket World Cup games in 2011 will be played in Pakistan without dramatic changes in security there, the head of the International Cricket Council told the BBC yesterday after the attack.

Asked about plans for the World Cup, due to be played in four Indian subcontinent countries, ICC president David Morgan said: "Things will have to change dramatically in Pakistan in my opinion if any of the games are to be staged there."

"It is one of those things, you know the risk is pretty large in that part of the world, in Pakistan, but there has always been a belief that sports people will not be targeted and I am just stunned," said Mr Marsh.

The foreign minister said he had spoken to Australia's ambassador who had assured him all Australians travelling with the Sri Lankan team were safe, with the exception of one person, who was believed to have received minor injuries.

In March last year, Australia also refused to tour Pakistan over security fears. The two countries agreed to reschedule the tour into two visits, however - one-day matches in 2009 and tests in 2010. But security concerns once again prompted the Australians to insist on neutral venues.

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"We note with dismay and regret the events... in Lahore and we condemn this attack without reservation," International Cricket Council chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in a statement.

"It is a source of great sadness that there have been a number of fatalities in this attack and it is also very upsetting for the wider cricket family that some of the Sri Lanka players and one match official have been injured in this attack."

Cricket powerhouse India, which pulled out of an anticipated tour of Pakistan this year because of simmering political tensions, said it was "shocked" by events, which highlighted the security problems blighting its neighbour.

"What has happened is very shocking indeed," said N. Srinivasan, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"We have been saying that there was a lack of security and safety in Pakistan. But this is not the time to give statements on that. At the moment our concerns are only for the Sri Lankan players."

India called off their tour in December in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which India blamed on Pakistan-based militants. It was only then that Sri Lanka were approached and agreed to fill the void.

Australia, who have also refused to tour the troubled South Asian country, said the attacks would have a lasting and damaging impact on future series in Pakistan.

"It is very sad that it has come to this for all the cricketers and Pakistan cricket in particular," said Australian Cricketers' Association chief Paul Marsh.

Cricket Australia chief executive officer James Sutherland said he was equally stunned.

"Australian cricket has many friends in Sri Lanka and in Pakistan and we sincerely hope they are all safe after this awful incident," said Mr Sutherland.

Former Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody, an Australian, said he was "saddened" by the orchestrated ambush in the upmarket district around Lahore's Liberty Square.

"My thoughts and prayers are not only with my friends in the Sri Lankan cricket team, but with the families of everyone that has been killed or injured in today's attack," said Mr Moody, who coached the national team from 2005 until just after the 2007 World Cup.

Bangladesh cricket chiefs, co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, said they were "deeply concerned" by the attack. "We are saddened by the unfortunate events and express solidarity with the players, match officials and victims of the attack," a BCB release said.

Former England cricketer Dominic Cork, who was in Lahore commentating on Sri Lanka's now abandoned second test against Pakistan, said no more international cricket should be played in the country and vowed never to return.