WORLD / Asia-Pacific
Troops storm Pakistan Red Mosque
(AP)
Updated: 2007-07-10 09:43
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Troops stormed the compound of Islamabad's Red
Mosque at dawn Tuesday, prompting a fierce firefight with militants
accused of holding scores of hostages, officials said. At least 20 rebels
and three soldiers were killed.
A Pakistani army Armoured Personnel Carrier moves towards the Red Mosque
during a military operation in Islamabad, 10 July. [Agencies]
Amid the sounds of rolling explosions, commandos attacked from three
directions and quickly cleared the ground floor of the mosque, army
spokesman Gen. Waheed Arshad said. Some 20 children who rushed toward the
advancing troops were brought to safety, he said.
Well-trained militants armed with machine guns, rocket launchers and
gasoline bombs put up tough resistance from the basement, Arshad said,
adding rebels were also firing from minarets and have booby trapped some
areas.
"Those who surrender will be arrested, but the others will be treated as
combatants and killed," he said.
The assault began minutes after a delegation led by a former prime
minister left the area declaring that efforts to negotiate a peaceful end
to a week-old seige had failed.
Clashes this month between security forces and supporters of the mosque's
hardline clerics prompted the siege. The religious extremists had been
trying to impose Taliban-style morality in the capital through a
six-month campaign of kidnappings and threats. Prior to Tuesday's
assault, at least 24 people had been killed in and around the mosque.
The assault was signaled by blasts and gunfire. About three and a half
hours after the assault started, Arshad said 50 to 60 percent of the
complex had been "cleared" but resistance continued in "various places."
Nearly 20 militants had been killed and between 15 to 20 had been
wounded. Arshad said three special forces commandos were also killed and
15 wounded.
Rebel leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi told the private Geo TV network that his
mother had been wounded by gunshot. There was no immedidate official
confirmation of his claim.
"The government is using full force. This is naked aggression," he said.
"My martyrdom is certain now."
He said that about 30 militants were resisting security forces but were
only armed with 14 AK-47 assault rifles.
As the fighting roiled on, emergency workers at an army cordon waiting
for access to the compound. Women police officers were on standby to
handle any female survivors or casualties.
A senior civilian official said troops had arrested dozens of people
inside the compound and that part of the madrassa had caught fire. The
official requested anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media.
Tuesday attack followed a botched commando raid on the high-walled mosque
compound over the weekend.
On Monday, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf assigned ex-premier Chaudhry
Shujaat Hussain to try and negotiate a peaceful end to the standoff.
But Hussain and a delegation of Islamic clerics returned crestfallen from
the mosque before dawn Tuesday after about nine hours of talks with rebel
leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi via loudspeakers and cell phones.
"We offered him a lot, but he wasn't ready to come on our terms," Hussain
told reporters waiting at the edge of the army cordon.
Several loud explosions boomed over the city just as the vexed looking
delegates were getting into their cars and sporadic shooting was also
heard.
About two dozen relatives of people trapped inside the complex waited
anxiously at the army cordon during the assault.
The government has said wanted terrorists are organizing the defense of
the mosque, while Ghazi has accused security forces of killing scores of
students.
In his comments on Tuesday, Ghazi said he had offered to show the
mediators that they had no heavy weapons, foreign militants or other
wanted people inside the mosque.
The siege has given the neighborhood the look of a war zone, with troops
manning machine guns behind sandbagged posts and from the top of armored
vehicles.
It has also sparked anger in Pakistan's restive northwest frontier. On
Monday, 20,000 tribesmen, including hundreds of masked militants wielding
assault rifles, held a protest in the frontier region of Bajur.
Many chanted "Death to Musharraf" and "Death to America" in a rally led
by Maulana Faqir Mohammed, a cleric wanted by authorities and who is
suspected of ties to al-Qaida No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri.
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