Sri Lanka: Attack won't hurt relations

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 4 (UPI) -- Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama says a terror attack on his country's cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan, won't harm relations with Islamabad.

After meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani Wednesday in Islamabad, Bogollagama said in a statement that the "Lahore terrorist attack cannot undermine deep-rooted friendly and excellent relations enjoyed by both Pakistan and Sri Lanka," CNN reported.

Gilani apologized again for the terror attack, in which a group of armed men killed a driver and six Pakistani police officers as well as injuring eight cricket players in a Monday assault on the team's bus.

Gilani said the attack was "a conspiracy aimed at isolating Pakistan's cricket and other sports while casting a shadow on Pakistan-Sri Lanka relations." He also praised Sri Lanka's "gesture of sending its cricket team on the tour of Pakistan at a time when most other countries were avoiding to do so," the U.S. broadcaster reported.

Twenty people were arrested Tuesday night in connection the attack, police officials said.