Pakistan troops storm mosque

ISLAMABAD – Pakistani troops attempted to flush out holdouts entrenched inside a women’s religious school after raiding Islamabad’s Red Mosque in fierce fighting yesterday that left about 50 militants and eight soldiers dead, the army said.

Commandos stormed the sprawling mosque compound before dawn, and 10 hours later were still trying to root out the well-armed defenders said to be holding a number of hostages. Khalid Pervez, the city’s top administrator, said as many as 50 women were the first to be freed by the militants and had emerged from the complex following the escape of 26 children.Mohammed Khalid Jamil, a reporter for the local Aaj television network, was among journalists who said they saw dozens of women and girls walking on a road away from the mosque.They were wearing burqas, he said.A military official who demanded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said the women included the wife and daughter of Abdul Aziz, the former head of the mosque who was arrested while trying to flee the complex last week.Army spokesman General Waheed Arshad said more hostages were being held and that fighting continued to be intense.Gunfire and explosions thundered over the city.”We are taking a step-by-step approach so there is no collateral damage,” he told reporters.”We are fighting room by room.”He added that stun grenades were being used to avoid casualties among the hostages.After last-ditch efforts to negotiate a surrender failed, commandos attacked from three directions about 04h00 and quickly cleared the ground floor of the mosque, Arshad said.Some 20 children who rushed toward the advancing troops were brought to safety, he said.In addition to the women, Arshad said about 50 suspected militants, some of them youngsters, have been captured or emerged from the mosque since the fighting erupted yesterday.He said the army attack was now focused on the women’s school but that some militants were still firing from the tops of the mosque’s minarets.He said the entire compound included 75 rooms, large basements and expansive courtyards.An officer, who demanded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said troops had cornered the mosque’s chief cleric, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, in the basement of the school but held back from an all-out assault because a number of children were being held there as hostages.Troops demanded four times that he surrender, but his followers responded with gunfire, and Ghazi said he was ready to die rather than give up, the officer said.Arshad said the well-trained militants were armed with machine guns, rocket launchers and gasoline bombs and had 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 siege had failed.Nampa-APKhalid Pervez, the city’s top administrator, said as many as 50 women were the first to be freed by the militants and had emerged from the complex following the escape of 26 children.Mohammed Khalid Jamil, a reporter for the local Aaj television network, was among journalists who said they saw dozens of women and girls walking on a road away from the mosque.They were wearing burqas, he said.A military official who demanded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said the women included the wife and daughter of Abdul Aziz, the former head of the mosque who was arrested while trying to flee the complex last week.Army spokesman General Waheed Arshad said more hostages were being held and that fighting continued to be intense.Gunfire and explosions thundered over the city.”We are taking a step-by-step approach so there is no collateral damage,” he told reporters.”We are fighting room by room.”He added that stun grenades were being used to avoid casualties among the hostages.After last-ditch efforts to negotiate a surrender failed, commandos attacked from three directions about 04h00 and quickly cleared the ground floor of the mosque, Arshad said.Some 20 children who rushed toward the advancing troops were brought to safety, he said.In addition to the women, Arshad said about 50 suspected militants, some of them youngsters, have been captured or emerged from the mosque since the fighting erupted yesterday.He said the army attack was now focused on the women’s school but that some militants were still firing from the tops of the mosque’s minarets.He said the entire compound included 75 rooms, large basements and expansive courtyards.An officer, who demanded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said troops had cornered the mosque’s chief cleric, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, in the basement of the school but held back from an all-out assault because a number of children were being held there as hostages.Troops demanded four times that he surrender, but his followers responded with gunfire, and Ghazi said he was ready to die rather than give up, the officer said.Arshad said the well-trained militants were armed with machine guns, rocket launchers and gasoline bombs and had 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 siege had failed.Nampa-AP