The police were reportedly travelling in a convoy in Lahore on Saturday, but came under fire from a group of seven or eight gunmen.

Four of the gunmen were killed when police returned fire, but a search operation has been launched to find the remaining members of the group.

"The police team which came under attack of terrorists returned the fire, killing four of them on the spot while the remaining three managed to escape by taking advantage of darkness," a spokesman for the crime investigation department of the Punjab police told the Times of India.

"The dead terrorists have been identified as Zubair alias Naik Muhammad, Abdul Wahab, Adnan Arshad and Attiqur Rehman.

"They were involved in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009 and the Moon Market Lahore attack in 2008."

The attack on the Sri Lankan team saw gunmen open fire on a bus carrying the country’s squad to Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

They had been due to play the third day of a Test Match against Pakistan.

Six members of the Sri Lankan team were injured in the attack, which led to cancellations of arranged tour matches in the country.

Pakistan had been due to co-host the 2011 Cricket World Cup with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, but ultimately lost the rights to stage matches at the tournament.

Security concerns have led to the Pakistani side not playing a home match in six years, instead hosting games in all formats of the sport in the United Arab Emirates.

This did not prevent the country from becoming the world number one side in Test cricket, for the first time since the International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced their new ranking system, earlier this month.

Security has also been a concern in the build up to England’s tour of Bangladesh, but the England and Wales Cricket Board decided on Friday (August 26) to continue with the trip.