பாகிஸ்தான் லால் மசூதிக்குள் ராணுவத்தினர் புகுந்து அங்கு பிணைக்கைதியாக வைக்கப்பட்டிருந்த சிறுமிகள் சிறுவர்கள் மாணவர்களை விடுவிக்க முனைந்தனர். 30 குழந்தைகளும் 24 பெண்களும் தப்பித்துள்ளனர்.
இதில் 50 பயங்கரவாதிகள் பலி 10 ராணுவத்தினர் பலி.
Pakistani troops storm mosque; nearly 60 dead
10 Jul 2007 12:34:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD, July 10 (Reuters) - Pakistani forces stormed a mosque compound on Tuesday, killing about 50 militants, as they fought their way through an Islamic school where they believed a rebel cleric was hiding with women and children hostages.
Militants mounted a last stand in the basements of the madrasa, and military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi had barricaded himself in.
Eight soldiers were killed and 29 wounded in the assault to end a week-long standoff at Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, Arshad said. Fifty militants were captured or surrendered.
"Operation Silence" started at 4 a.m. (2300 GMT Monday) with a barrage of explosions and sustained gunfire, and was still in progress more than 12 hours later.
"Ghazi's location has been identified. He is in a basement on the southern side of the madrasa. He has been asked four times to surrender but he has not done so," a security official said.
There were more than 70 rooms and the basements in the sprawling mosque-school complex, and the militants were armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, Arshad said.
"Militants are taking positions in almost every room, they're fighting from room to room, they have positions in the basement, on the stairs," he said.
With more than two-thirds of the mosque-school complex secured, some 30 children and 24 women had managed to get out. It was unclear how many more women and children remained inside but earlier officials had said hundreds could be there.
Many of the women had been among the cleric's most fervent supporters. Six of the children said they had been kept in the basement of the mosque but fled when their guards disappeared after commandos overran it, Arshad said.
FIRING FROM MINARETS
By early afternoon, loud blasts still rocked the heart of Islamabad and militants had resumed firing from the mosque's minarets, Arshad said.
Commandos backed by paramilitary troops first seized the mosque then swept resistance from the rooftop of the madrasa and worked their way down through the building.
There were fears the militants might resort to suicide bombs. Officials said on Monday militants had distributed vests packed with explosives.
Heavy loss of life among women and children could have serious repercussions for President Pervez Musharraf, who had been under pressure to confront the militants for some time.
An election is due by the year end, and General Musharraf, is already going through the rockiest period of his presidency.
The Lal Masjid has been a centre of militancy for years, known for its support for Afghanistan's Taliban and opposition to Musharraf's backing for the United States.
TOO SCARED TO SURRENDER
Smoke shrouded the compound that had been surrounded by troops since clashes with armed students broke out on July 3.
Beyond the razor wire barriers several hundred metres away, about a dozen anxious parents and relatives waited, most too upset to speak, but some voicing anger with the government.
Lali Gul, a father from the northwestern town of Charsadda, said he last spoke to his 16-year-old son Abdullah on Friday.
"He said they were willing to come out but feared Rangers would fire on them," Gul said, referring to paramilitary forces.
Before the assault began, at least 21 people were killed in the week-long standoff that followed months of mounting tension between the mosque's hardline clerics and the government.
The government has been demanding radical cleric Ghazi and his scores of hardcore fighters, who authorities say include wanted militants, surrender unconditionally.
Ghazi refused, saying he would prefer martyrdom. He said he and the followers of his Taliban-style movement hoped their deaths would spark an Islamic revolution.
The action against the mosque has raised fears of a militant backlash. A wanted Pakistani militant vowed revenge on Monday if the mosque were assaulted.
About 300 protesters angry about the assault torched tented offices of Western aid agencies in Battagram, a town in North West Frontier Province damaged by a 2005 earthquake.
For all the uncertainty, the Karachi Stock Exchange index breached life highs on Monday, gaining 0.5 percent. The rupee, which trades under the central bank's managed float, was steady.
Standards & Poor's Rating Services, however, cut its outlook on Pakistani debt to stable from positive partly because of growing concern over the "deteriorating security environment". [ID:nHKG33458] (Additional reporting by Faisal Aziz and Kamran Haider)
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