New Delhi - India Tuesday expressed shock at the terrorist attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan and said Islamabad should take urgent steps to dismantle terrorism infrastructure on its soil.

The attack showed the "enormity of the threat" where "the terrorists strike at will," India's Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said.

"We are shocked by the incident ... The Pakistan government should take urgent and meaningful steps to dismantle terrorism infrastructure," Sharma added.

"It is clear that the terror infrastructure in Pakistan is a danger to the region and the world," Sharma added.

"We express our serious concern and express our solidarity with the Sri Lankan cricketers," Sharma said, wishing them a speedy recovery.

India has claimed that a Pakistan-based militant group, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, had planned and executed the attack on its financial hub Mumbai in November in which more than 170 people were killed.

The Mumbai attack was similar to the one on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, where armed gunmen fired automatic weapons and threw grenades, killing up to seven people and injuring two Sri Lankan cricketers.

Sharma said the Indian government had taken a conscious decision not to send its team to Pakistan. "It was not possible to expose the Indian team, and though it was a difficult decision - we do not want to come in the way of people-to-people contacts - but it was taken to save our own cricketers."

Teams from other countries like Australia have also refused to play cricket in Pakistan in the past year due to security concerns.

The Indian cricket board expressed shock over the incident.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) expresses its sorrow and anguish over the dastardly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team at Lahore. We pray for the speedy recovery of the injured cricketers. The BCCI stands alongside Sri Lanka Cricket in this hour of crisis," BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.

The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team has raised concern about the safety of players in the region and the Cricket World Cup tournament scheduled to be held in the region in 2011 with matches in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The English cricket team, which was playing a series in India in November 2008, flew home during the three-day terrorist attack in Mumbai, but returned later to complete some matches.

Asked about the security for the World Cup, India's federal Home Minister P Chidambaram said: "Let the World Cup come. We will provide them security."

Cricket-crazy South Asia is estimated to provide more than 60 per cent revenue for international cricket and is its most lucrative market. (dpa)