ராவல்பிண்டியில் மார்க்கெட்டில் குண்டுவெடிப்பு செய்து அப்பாவி பொதுமக்களை கொன்றது நாங்களே என்று இஸ்லாமாபாத் லால்மசூதியை சேர்ந்த இஸ்லாமிய தீவிரவாதிகள் அறிவித்துள்ளனர்
அபு ஹப்ஸ் என்ற லால் மசூதி இயக்கம் என்ற இயக்கத்தை நடத்திவரும் தலைவர் தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.
முன்னாள் இந்துக்களான இவர்கள் இப்படி தவறான வன்முறை மார்க்கத்தில் சென்று மூளை கெட்டுப்போயிருக்கிறார்கள். பொதுமக்களள பொதுமக்கள் என்று கூட பார்க்கமுடியாதபடி இவர்களது கண்கள் மூடப்பட்டிருக்கின்றன.
இவர்கள் தாங்கள் இருக்கும் வன்முறை மார்க்கத்திலிருந்து விலகி அமைதி மார்க்கம் வர இறையை இறைஞ்சுவோம்.
Pakistan: Radical Red Mosque militants claim Rawalpindi blasts
Karachi, 4 Sept. (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - The militants linked to the radical Islamabad mosque, Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) have said that they are behind Tuesday's twin bomb blasts in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi which killed at least 24 people and injured over 60.
"This is a natural retaliation to the oppression against the Lal Masjid students and teachers," Abu Hafs, a leader of the Lal Masjid movement told Adnkronos International (AKI).
Speaking by telephone from an unknown location, Hafs confirmed that the militants carried out the blasts near the Pakistani military headquarters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday morning.
The first explosion went off on a bus carrying defence employees killing 17 people, and the second, a motorcycle bomb blew up in a market shotrly afterwards killing 7 people.
"The government massacred hundreds of people and used white phosphorous to annihilate the Lal Masjid and the innocent students and now they expect peace?" Abu Hafs told AKI.
Hafs was referring to the incident in July when the Pakistani military stormed the Lal Masjid and its affiliated madrassas or Islamic seminaries. The mosque compound had been occupied by by pro-Taliban militants and at least 100 people were killed during the seige and the military operation.
Sources linked with Lal masjid group have said that this is the beginning of a war in which the prime targets will be Pakistan's president General Pervez Musharraf, the religious affairs minister Ejazul Haq and the interior minister Aftab Sherpao.
These sources claimed that in the coming days the 'mujahadeen' and not the political parties will be running the country.
On 25 August, a message was emailed to local and foreign media in Pakistan, which threatened retaliatory attacks after the military stormed the Lal Masjid on 10 July and killed the mosque's radical cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi.
"Dusk on 10 July, witnessed the fall of a gallant warrior. Perhaps the bravest this land has seen," read the message which was sent with a photo of Ghazi and an announcement that the Lal Masjid's website had been restored.
"His revolutionary pride refused to bow down before a system which is based on tyranny and oppression. He might be dead but he lives through the cause his blood sanctified. To our nation, which, is enslaved for the past three hundred years, he gave the will to resist the ruling class and the imperial powers with the slogan - Shariat Ya Shahadat. We are back with the bang.”
Soon after the message was sent, AKI received a CD message carrying the images of the Lal Masjid and an announcement that a wave of suicide attack will soon hit the country .
Attacks by militants have increased since the Lal Masjid operation.
The level of violence has increased significantly in the restive tribal regions of South and North Waziristan where 18 paramilitary troops were kidnapped by pro-Taliban militants and eventually released.
Although Pakistani officials said that the release was unconditional, sources have said that as many as 1,200 arrested militants were released in exchange for the soldiers.
Soon after the paramilitary troops were freed, close to 300 Pakistani soldiers and officers were abducted last week by pro-Taliban militants in South Waziristan.
Several security personnel were also abducted in Mohmand tribal region.
“The mujahadeen had a forward strategy immediately after the Lal Masjid operation but through backchannel dialogue, the government of Pakistan assured us that it would withdraw its troops from the tribal area therefore we called our men back from Pakistani cities," said Rasool Dawar, a spokesman for pro-Taliban militants in Pakistan in a phone interview with AKI.
"Those men were only waiting for a signal to flood Pakistan with suicide attacks," he said.
"However, the Pakistani forces defied their pledges and continued to mount attacks on the mujahadeen,"Dawar told AKI. "In addition, they coordinated a US strike within the Waziristan area. That situation prompted the mujahadeen to give a crashing reply to Pakistan and now you will see a major wave of attacks on Musharraf and his allies," he said.
The military operation on the Lal Masjid has caused a lot of resentment within the jihadi circles in Pakistan, who are even unhappy with the role played by Pakistan's Muslim clerics in trying to prevent the operation on the mosque.
Maulana Hanif Jalandari, the former secretary general of the Wifaqul Madarris, a federation of Islamic seminaries, recently received death threats while the Grand Mufti of Pakistan, Rafi Usmani was recently sent bangles - an apparent symbol of his "unmanly" attitude during the operations.
Showing posts with label லால் மசூதி. Show all posts
Showing posts with label லால் மசூதி. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
பாகிஸ்தான்: லால் மசூதியில் வெடிகுண்டு 11 காவலர்கள் பலி
போலீஸை குறிவைத்து முஸ்லீம் பயங்கரவாதிகள் எரிந்த குண்டுகளில் 11 போலீஸ்காரர்கள் பலியானார்கள் என்று செய்திகள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன
'Eleven dead' in Red Mosque blast
Reports suggest the bomb was aimed at police officers
A bomb blast has rocked Pakistan's Red Mosque after violent clashes between police and Islamist students, killing at least 11 people, officials say.
"Most of the dead were policemen," a security official said, adding that around 30 people were injured.
Torn police uniforms lay about the scene in Islamabad while blood stained the streets, a BBC correspondent said.
The mosque was the scene of a bloody siege that ended earlier in July with the deaths of more than 100 people.
A protest grew on Friday as students demanded the return of the mosque's surviving pro-Taleban cleric, Abdul Aziz, who is in detention.
Security forces initially stood by as the protest began, but later dozens of police officers in full riot gear were deployed.
Armoured riot vehicles confronted the protesters, some of whom carried wooden staves or hurled rocks at police. Tear gas was fired in return.
Cleric rejected
The protesters defaced the mosque, which had been repainted in pale colours by the authorities after the end of the siege.
They wrote "Red Mosque" in large Urdu script on the dome of the building. They also raised a black flag with two crossed swords - meant to symbolise jihad, or holy war.
Earlier protesters prevented a government-appointed cleric from leading Friday prayers at what was supposed to be the peaceful re-opening of the mosque.
"I was told everything would be peaceful. I was never interested in taking up this job and after today I will never do it," Mohammad Ashfaq told AFP news agency as he left the mosque with a police escort.
The explosion took place soon after the protests were subdued by police, said the BBC's Dan Isaacs, who was only 50-100m (150-300 ft) away.
It appeared to be targeted at the police cordon arranged round the mosque, where dozens of officers were lined up, he said.
A security official told the AFP news agency the bomb was set off by a suicide attacker, although our correspondent was unable to confirm this.
"A man detonated explosives strapped to his body among two rows of Punjab police constabulary members who were there on duty because of the unrest at the Red Mosque," he said.
One official said seven police officers were among the dead. This was unconfirmed.
Centre of radicalism
Less than three weeks ago, troops stormed the mosque after its clerics and students waged an increasingly aggressive campaign to enforce strict Sharia law in Islamabad.
The mosque had become a centre of radical Islamic learning and housed several thousand male and female students in adjacent seminaries.
Protesters daubed the mosque with graffiti
The chief of Dyala prison in Rawalpindi told Pakistan's Supreme Court that 567 of the 620 students detained during the siege and 36-hour battle had been freed. Of those still being held, three are women.
A legal aid committee says it has received 58 complaints from relatives about men who are said to be missing following the siege.
The people killed in the siege included 11 soldiers and an as yet unknown number of extremists and their hostages.
The attack on the mosque was the fiercest battle fought by security forces in mainland Pakistan since President Pervez Musharraf vowed to dismantle the militant jihadi network in the country in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US.
'Eleven dead' in Red Mosque blast
Reports suggest the bomb was aimed at police officers
A bomb blast has rocked Pakistan's Red Mosque after violent clashes between police and Islamist students, killing at least 11 people, officials say.
"Most of the dead were policemen," a security official said, adding that around 30 people were injured.
Torn police uniforms lay about the scene in Islamabad while blood stained the streets, a BBC correspondent said.
The mosque was the scene of a bloody siege that ended earlier in July with the deaths of more than 100 people.
A protest grew on Friday as students demanded the return of the mosque's surviving pro-Taleban cleric, Abdul Aziz, who is in detention.
Security forces initially stood by as the protest began, but later dozens of police officers in full riot gear were deployed.
Armoured riot vehicles confronted the protesters, some of whom carried wooden staves or hurled rocks at police. Tear gas was fired in return.
Cleric rejected
The protesters defaced the mosque, which had been repainted in pale colours by the authorities after the end of the siege.
They wrote "Red Mosque" in large Urdu script on the dome of the building. They also raised a black flag with two crossed swords - meant to symbolise jihad, or holy war.
Earlier protesters prevented a government-appointed cleric from leading Friday prayers at what was supposed to be the peaceful re-opening of the mosque.
"I was told everything would be peaceful. I was never interested in taking up this job and after today I will never do it," Mohammad Ashfaq told AFP news agency as he left the mosque with a police escort.
The explosion took place soon after the protests were subdued by police, said the BBC's Dan Isaacs, who was only 50-100m (150-300 ft) away.
It appeared to be targeted at the police cordon arranged round the mosque, where dozens of officers were lined up, he said.
A security official told the AFP news agency the bomb was set off by a suicide attacker, although our correspondent was unable to confirm this.
"A man detonated explosives strapped to his body among two rows of Punjab police constabulary members who were there on duty because of the unrest at the Red Mosque," he said.
One official said seven police officers were among the dead. This was unconfirmed.
Centre of radicalism
Less than three weeks ago, troops stormed the mosque after its clerics and students waged an increasingly aggressive campaign to enforce strict Sharia law in Islamabad.
The mosque had become a centre of radical Islamic learning and housed several thousand male and female students in adjacent seminaries.
Protesters daubed the mosque with graffiti
The chief of Dyala prison in Rawalpindi told Pakistan's Supreme Court that 567 of the 620 students detained during the siege and 36-hour battle had been freed. Of those still being held, three are women.
A legal aid committee says it has received 58 complaints from relatives about men who are said to be missing following the siege.
The people killed in the siege included 11 soldiers and an as yet unknown number of extremists and their hostages.
The attack on the mosque was the fiercest battle fought by security forces in mainland Pakistan since President Pervez Musharraf vowed to dismantle the militant jihadi network in the country in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US.
பாகிஸ்தான் லால் மசூதியில் மீண்டும் கலவரம்: வெடிகுண்டில் பலர் பலி
லால் மசூதி மீண்டும் திறக்கப்பட்டதும், ஏராளமான முஸ்லீம் மாணவர்கள் அதனை ஆக்கிரமித்து மீண்டும் போலீஸை தாக்கினர். அவர்கள் வீசிய வெடிகுண்டு வெடித்து பலர் பலியானதாக செய்திகள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன
'Several die' in Red Mosque blast
The students chanted slogans against President Musharraf
An explosion has rocked Pakistan's Red Mosque after violent clashes between police and Islamist students, killing several people, officials say.
There were unconfirmed reports that the blast was a bomb aimed at police, and that at least one officer was killed.
Earlier police fired tear gas at stone-throwing students who had occupied the building in Islamabad.
The mosque was the scene of a bloody siege that ended earlier in July with the deaths of more than 100 people.
A protest grew on Friday as students demanded the return of the mosque's surviving pro-Taleban cleric, Abdul Aziz, who is in detention.
Security forces initially stood by as the protest began, but later dozens of police officers in full riot gear were deployed.
Cleric rejected
The protesters defaced the mosque, which had been repainted in pale colours by the authorities after the end of the siege.
They wrote "Red Mosque" in large Urdu script on the dome of the building. They also raised a black flag with two crossed swords - meant to symbolise jihad, or holy war.
Earlier protesters prevented a government-appointed cleric from leading Friday prayers at what was supposed to be the peaceful re-opening of the mosque.
"I was told everything would be peaceful. I was never interested in taking up this job and after today I will never do it," Mohammad Ashfaq told AFP news agency as he left the mosque with a police escort.
Renovated building
Troops stormed the mosque after its clerics and students waged an increasingly aggressive campaign to enforce strict Sharia law in Islamabad.
The mosque had become a centre of radical Islamic learning and housed several thousand male and female students in adjacent seminaries.
Protesters daubed the mosque with graffiti
The chief of Dyala prison in Rawalpindi told Pakistan's Supreme Court that 567 of the 620 students detained during the siege and 36-hour battle had been freed. Of those still being held, three are women.
A legal aid committee says it has received 58 complaints from relatives about men who are said to be missing following the siege.
The people killed in the siege included 11 soldiers and an as yet unknown number of extremists and their hostages.
The attack on the mosque was the fiercest battle fought by security forces in mainland Pakistan since President Musharraf vowed to dismantle the militant jihadi network in the country in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
முஸ்லீம் பயங்கரவாதிகள் தாக்கி 34 பாகிஸ்தான் ராணுவத்தினர் பலி
பாகிஸ்தானில் தாலிபான் ஆதரவாளர்கள், லால் மசூதியில் பாகிஸ்தான் ராணுவத்தின் நடவடிக்கைக்கு எதிர்ப்பு தெரிவிக்க பல்வேறு இடங்களில் பாகிஸ்தான் ராணுவத்தின் மீது தற்கொலை தாக்குதல்களை நிறைவேற்றினார்கள்.
இதில் 34 ராணுவத்தினர், பொதுமக்கள் பலியானார்கள்.
Bombers strike convoys; at least 34 killed
By Zulfiqar Ali and Laura King
Los Angeles Times
MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan -- In the deadliest suicide attack in many months in Pakistan's tribal borderlands, a bomber struck a military convoy Saturday, killing 24 troops and injuring nearly 30 others, authorities said.
Another suicide car bomber struck a convoy elsewhere in the border region early today, killing more than 10 security personnel, police said.
The escalating violence could presage a broader war by Islamist militants against government forces in the wake of the siege of a radical mosque last week by elite Pakistani commandos in the nation's capital, Islamabad, which left more than 100 people dead.
On the orders of President Pervez Musharraf, who is also the chief of the military, thousands of troops have been deployed in the volatile border region in recent days. Radical groups have vowed to avenge the government's storming of the Red Mosque and the killing of one of two brothers who presided over the complex. Troops surrounded the mosque July 2 and stormed it eight days later.
Musharraf, a key American ally in the war in neighboring Afghanistan, said Thursday that Islamist militants would be pursued in "every corner" of Pakistan in the wake of the Red Mosque confrontation.
But Pakistan's military-intelligence agencies have been accused of maintaining close ties with Islamic militant groups despite Musharraf's alliance with the United States.
The attack against Pakistani troops in North Waziristan coincided with violent incidents elsewhere in the border region. In the heart of Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province, authorities said they found two anti-tank mines attached to a timing device in a car parked near a bank affiliated with Pakistan's military.
In another attack in the border areas, a vehicle carrying soldiers was hit by a bomb in the town of Banu, but there were no fatalities.
Saturday's suicide attack took place in the village of Daznaray, about 20 miles north of Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said all those killed were army troops, and that the wounded included five members of the paramilitary forces.
Today, a convoy of army and paramilitary troops was attacked in Swat, a mountainous area of North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, police officer Humayun Khan said. Troops opened fire after the attack and a gunbattle was continuing, he said. Dozens of security personnel reportedly were wounded.
Taliban commanders have set a deadline of today for government troops to remove recently established checkpoints in North Waziristan, the scene of a controversial government pact last year under which government troops were to remain in their barracks and Taliban-linked fighters were to refrain from cross-border attacks.
The accord, signed in September with tribal elders, is viewed as a failure. Attacks spiked in its aftermath.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
இதில் 34 ராணுவத்தினர், பொதுமக்கள் பலியானார்கள்.
Bombers strike convoys; at least 34 killed
By Zulfiqar Ali and Laura King
Los Angeles Times
MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan -- In the deadliest suicide attack in many months in Pakistan's tribal borderlands, a bomber struck a military convoy Saturday, killing 24 troops and injuring nearly 30 others, authorities said.
Another suicide car bomber struck a convoy elsewhere in the border region early today, killing more than 10 security personnel, police said.
The escalating violence could presage a broader war by Islamist militants against government forces in the wake of the siege of a radical mosque last week by elite Pakistani commandos in the nation's capital, Islamabad, which left more than 100 people dead.
On the orders of President Pervez Musharraf, who is also the chief of the military, thousands of troops have been deployed in the volatile border region in recent days. Radical groups have vowed to avenge the government's storming of the Red Mosque and the killing of one of two brothers who presided over the complex. Troops surrounded the mosque July 2 and stormed it eight days later.
Musharraf, a key American ally in the war in neighboring Afghanistan, said Thursday that Islamist militants would be pursued in "every corner" of Pakistan in the wake of the Red Mosque confrontation.
But Pakistan's military-intelligence agencies have been accused of maintaining close ties with Islamic militant groups despite Musharraf's alliance with the United States.
The attack against Pakistani troops in North Waziristan coincided with violent incidents elsewhere in the border region. In the heart of Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province, authorities said they found two anti-tank mines attached to a timing device in a car parked near a bank affiliated with Pakistan's military.
In another attack in the border areas, a vehicle carrying soldiers was hit by a bomb in the town of Banu, but there were no fatalities.
Saturday's suicide attack took place in the village of Daznaray, about 20 miles north of Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said all those killed were army troops, and that the wounded included five members of the paramilitary forces.
Today, a convoy of army and paramilitary troops was attacked in Swat, a mountainous area of North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, police officer Humayun Khan said. Troops opened fire after the attack and a gunbattle was continuing, he said. Dozens of security personnel reportedly were wounded.
Taliban commanders have set a deadline of today for government troops to remove recently established checkpoints in North Waziristan, the scene of a controversial government pact last year under which government troops were to remain in their barracks and Taliban-linked fighters were to refrain from cross-border attacks.
The accord, signed in September with tribal elders, is viewed as a failure. Attacks spiked in its aftermath.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Thursday, July 12, 2007
லால் மசூதியை பற்றிய சவுதி அரேபிய கார்ட்டூன்
சவுதி அரேபியாவிலிருந்து வெளிவரும் அல்-ஜஜிரா பத்திரிக்கையில், பாகிஸ்தானின் லால் மசூதி பற்றி வெளிவந்த கார்ட்டூன்
நன்றி Al-Jazirah, Saudi Arabia, July 11, 2007
நன்றி Al-Jazirah, Saudi Arabia, July 11, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
லால் மசூதியில் 300 மாணவர்கள் பலி
லால் மசூதியில் இருந்த மாணவர்கள் விடுவிக்கப்பட்டார்கள். ஆனால் அதில் 300 மாணவர்கள் தீவீரவாதிகளாலேயே கொல்லப்பட்டார்கள் என்று பாகிஸ்தான் செய்திகள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன.
Raid at Pakistan mosque saves students
BY JAMES RUPERT
james.rupert@newsday.com
July 11, 2007
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Army commandos seized control of Islamabad's Red Mosque from Islamic militant guerrillas Tuesday, but it appeared that most of perhaps 300 students trapped in the siege were killed.
Explosions and gunfire jolted central Islamabad in a battle of more than 16 hours. As a pall of stinging smoke hung over the shattered compound last night, government spokesmen skirted questions about casualties among the students, who reportedly included children as young as 7 or 8.
But authorities appeared to be preparing Pakistanis for heavy losses among those whom the raid was meant to rescue. Deputy information minister Tariq Azim somberly told reporters that "all of those who were killed were Muslims," and "most were innocent."
A prominent social welfare activist, Abdul Sattar Edhi, said officials had asked his organization to prepare 300 white burial shrouds.
Many of the students at the mosque's religious schools stayed in the mosque after troops surrounded it last week. The heavily armed guerrillas eventually compelled them to remain as human shields.
A high death toll among them will further burden President Pervez Musharraf in his effort to win re-election in the next three months. Musharraf already is in trouble, facing nationwide protests over his efforts to oust the country's chief justice and tilt the election process in his own favor.
Musharraf ordered troops to besiege the mosque last week after its militants fought gunbattles with police in their increasingly aggressive campaign to force Taliban-style Islamic codes on the city. He authorized a final round of negotiations Monday aimed at obtaining the militants' surrender or at least the release of hostages -- and when those talks were declared a failure, elite anti-terrorist commandos attacked yesterday at dawn.
Muslim clerics whom Musharraf recruited to mediate with the militants Monday suggested yesterday that he had attacked the mosque wrongfully because opportunities remained to pursue a negotiated solution.
The U.S. government backed Musharraf's decision. "The government of Pakistan has proceeded in a responsible way," said State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
The government has kept all independent observers away from the site and doled out its information on the battle selectively. The Army spokesman, Gen. Arshad Waheed, gave casualty figures for the army (eight killed) and the guerrillas (as many as 50 killed and another 50 surrendered).
The dead included the mosque's deputy imam, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who the government said was killed in crossfire when troops summoned him from a hiding place to surrender.
Officials announced the rescue of 26 students believed held by the fighters against their will. But they declined even to estimate student casualties.
Protests erupted against the mosque takeover in conservative parts of Pakistan. The U.S. Embassy warned American citizens to limit their movements for fear of reprisal attacks.
Before the raid, Musharraf got solid backing from political commentators and ordinary people for confronting the Red Mosque, if belatedly.
"Most of my friends are supporting Musharraf, because these hard-line people are committing crimes and violence in the name of Islam," said Fakhr Irshad, an engineering student from Rawalpindi. "Everyone is asking why did he not take action six months ago," when militants at the mosque began their campaign by seizing a government library.
Musharraf will face questions from liberals and moderates about how a mosque only a mile from his office and from Pakistani intelligence headquarters managed to stock rifles, grenades, rocket launchers and explosives that Waheed said the militants used. Liberal Pakistani commentators say the military, notably its intelligence services, remain heavily salted with officers ready to assist, rather than confront, Islamic extremists.
Raid at Pakistan mosque saves students
BY JAMES RUPERT
james.rupert@newsday.com
July 11, 2007
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Army commandos seized control of Islamabad's Red Mosque from Islamic militant guerrillas Tuesday, but it appeared that most of perhaps 300 students trapped in the siege were killed.
Explosions and gunfire jolted central Islamabad in a battle of more than 16 hours. As a pall of stinging smoke hung over the shattered compound last night, government spokesmen skirted questions about casualties among the students, who reportedly included children as young as 7 or 8.
But authorities appeared to be preparing Pakistanis for heavy losses among those whom the raid was meant to rescue. Deputy information minister Tariq Azim somberly told reporters that "all of those who were killed were Muslims," and "most were innocent."
A prominent social welfare activist, Abdul Sattar Edhi, said officials had asked his organization to prepare 300 white burial shrouds.
Many of the students at the mosque's religious schools stayed in the mosque after troops surrounded it last week. The heavily armed guerrillas eventually compelled them to remain as human shields.
A high death toll among them will further burden President Pervez Musharraf in his effort to win re-election in the next three months. Musharraf already is in trouble, facing nationwide protests over his efforts to oust the country's chief justice and tilt the election process in his own favor.
Musharraf ordered troops to besiege the mosque last week after its militants fought gunbattles with police in their increasingly aggressive campaign to force Taliban-style Islamic codes on the city. He authorized a final round of negotiations Monday aimed at obtaining the militants' surrender or at least the release of hostages -- and when those talks were declared a failure, elite anti-terrorist commandos attacked yesterday at dawn.
Muslim clerics whom Musharraf recruited to mediate with the militants Monday suggested yesterday that he had attacked the mosque wrongfully because opportunities remained to pursue a negotiated solution.
The U.S. government backed Musharraf's decision. "The government of Pakistan has proceeded in a responsible way," said State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
The government has kept all independent observers away from the site and doled out its information on the battle selectively. The Army spokesman, Gen. Arshad Waheed, gave casualty figures for the army (eight killed) and the guerrillas (as many as 50 killed and another 50 surrendered).
The dead included the mosque's deputy imam, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who the government said was killed in crossfire when troops summoned him from a hiding place to surrender.
Officials announced the rescue of 26 students believed held by the fighters against their will. But they declined even to estimate student casualties.
Protests erupted against the mosque takeover in conservative parts of Pakistan. The U.S. Embassy warned American citizens to limit their movements for fear of reprisal attacks.
Before the raid, Musharraf got solid backing from political commentators and ordinary people for confronting the Red Mosque, if belatedly.
"Most of my friends are supporting Musharraf, because these hard-line people are committing crimes and violence in the name of Islam," said Fakhr Irshad, an engineering student from Rawalpindi. "Everyone is asking why did he not take action six months ago," when militants at the mosque began their campaign by seizing a government library.
Musharraf will face questions from liberals and moderates about how a mosque only a mile from his office and from Pakistani intelligence headquarters managed to stock rifles, grenades, rocket launchers and explosives that Waheed said the militants used. Liberal Pakistani commentators say the military, notably its intelligence services, remain heavily salted with officers ready to assist, rather than confront, Islamic extremists.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
பாகிஸ்தான் ராணுவத்தால் லால் மசூதி காஜி கொல்லப்பட்டார்
பாகிஸ்தான் லால் மசூதி தலைவர் அப்துல் ரஷீத் காஜி தீவிரவாதிகளால் கொல்லப்பட்டார் என்று பாகிஸ்தான் ராணுவம் அனுப்பிய செய்தியின் தலைப்பு கூறுகிறது. செய்தியின் உள்ளே, பாகிஸ்தான் ராணுவமே கொன்றதாக கூறுகிறது.
Lal Masjid leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi killed by militants ISLAMABAD, July 10 (AFP)
Rebel cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi was killed in crossfire between militants and Pakistani forces who stormed Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP. “He was spotted in the basement and asked to come out. He came out with four or five militants who kept on firing at security forces,” spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said, updating his earlier account of the incident. “The troops responded and in the crossfire he was killed.” (First Posted @ 19:10 PST Updated @ 19:24 PST)
Lal Masjid leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi killed by militants ISLAMABAD, July 10 (AFP)
Rebel cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi was killed in crossfire between militants and Pakistani forces who stormed Islamabad’s Lal Masjid, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP. “He was spotted in the basement and asked to come out. He came out with four or five militants who kept on firing at security forces,” spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said, updating his earlier account of the incident. “The troops responded and in the crossfire he was killed.” (First Posted @ 19:10 PST Updated @ 19:24 PST)
பாகிஸ்தான் லால் மசூதி 50 பேர் பலி 8 ராணுவத்தினர் பலி
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)
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)
Saturday, July 07, 2007
லால் மசூதியில் பாகிஸ்தான் ராணுவம் சுட்டு 70 மாணவர்கள் பலி- காஜி
இஸ்லாமாபாத் லால் மசூதியில் பாகிஸ்தான் ராணுவத்தினருக்கும் இஸ்லாமிய தீவிரவாத மாணவர்களுக்கும் இடையே நடக்கும் போரில் ராணுவத்தினர் சுட்டு 70 மாணவர்கள் பலியாகி இருக்கிறார்கள் என்று அதன் தலைமை காஜி தெரிவித்துள்ளார்.
ராணுவமோ 19 பேரே கொல்லப்பட்டிருப்பதாக தெரிவிக்கிறது.
பாகிஸ்தானியர்கள் வன்முறை மார்க்கத்தை விட்டு அமைதி மார்க்கம், அன்புவழி மார்க்கம் வரவும், உண்மையான ஆன்மீக வழியில் வருவதற்கும் பிரார்த்திப்போம்.
Cleric: 70 Killed at Pakistan Mosque
Saturday July 7, 2007 11:01 AM
By ZARAR KHAN
Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - The top cleric at a besieged mosque in Pakistan's capital accused security forces on Saturday of killing more than 70 of his students but said he and his supporters preferred martyrdom to capture.
Explosions and intense gunfire continued into Saturday as thousands of troops ringing Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, attempted to end a five-day standoff but held back from an all-out assault.
Although the government says only 19 people have died since Tuesday, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the mosque's defiant cleric, told the local Geo TV channel that more than 70 of his students had been slain by government gunfire.
``There are 70 to 80 bodies of our students,'' he said, a claim that could not be independently verified.
The siege has added to the woes of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who faces a gathering storm of domestic Islamic extremism as well as a popular backlash from his bungled attempt at firing the country's chief justice.
Authorities on Saturday were investigating what may have been the fourth attempt on his life.
Shots rang out as Musharraf took off from a military base near the capital Friday morning, apparently fired from a neighborhood directly under the flight path, officials and witnesses said.
There have already been three attempts to assassinate Musharraf since his decision to side with the United States in its war on terror.
It was not clear whether the incident was linked to the siege, but radical Islamic groups have staged daily street protests throughout the standoff.
Troops surrounded the mosque and an adjoining women's seminary on Tuesday after deadly clashes between government security forces and Islamic students who have sought to impose Taliban-style rule in the city.
Militant students had streamed out of the mosque to confront security forces deployed there following the kidnapping of six alleged Chinese prostitutes. The brief abduction, which drew a protest from Beijing, was the latest of provocations by the mosque stretching back six months.
While more than 1,200 people, mainly students from the mosque's two Islamic schools, have fled the complex, officials say up to 100 armed militants and an unknown number of students remain inside.
Ghazi, who has sought safe passage for himself and his followers, reiterated Saturday that he would not surrender.
``We are ready to lay down arms, but we should not be arrested,'' he said, adding, ``We are ready to be martyred.''
Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao rejected those terms, insisting that Ghazi would have to face the courts.
Security officials deployed near the mosque said they were continuing to demolish sections of the mosque's perimeter. A dozen loud explosions rocked the area Saturday, and gunfire rang out as a delegation of clerics headed towards the mosque in hopes of persuading Ghazi to surrender.
Syed Bilal, one of the delegates, told reporters that Ghazi was ready to meet with them but that security officials had stopped them from going inside because of the intense gunfire.
After Bilal insisted on going inside the mosque, police pushed him into a car and sped away, said Samia Qazi, a lawmaker at the scene. She condemned the police action, saying the government was trying to avoid giving clerics a role in ending the siege.
Several female lawmakers from extremist parties rallied near the Parliament building Saturday, urging the government to hold talks with Ghazi to peacefully resolve the standoff. They also asked that women and children be allowed to leave the mosque.
Before dawn, police seized control of one of Ghazi's seminaries in another area of Islamabad.
ராணுவமோ 19 பேரே கொல்லப்பட்டிருப்பதாக தெரிவிக்கிறது.
பாகிஸ்தானியர்கள் வன்முறை மார்க்கத்தை விட்டு அமைதி மார்க்கம், அன்புவழி மார்க்கம் வரவும், உண்மையான ஆன்மீக வழியில் வருவதற்கும் பிரார்த்திப்போம்.
Cleric: 70 Killed at Pakistan Mosque
Saturday July 7, 2007 11:01 AM
By ZARAR KHAN
Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - The top cleric at a besieged mosque in Pakistan's capital accused security forces on Saturday of killing more than 70 of his students but said he and his supporters preferred martyrdom to capture.
Explosions and intense gunfire continued into Saturday as thousands of troops ringing Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, attempted to end a five-day standoff but held back from an all-out assault.
Although the government says only 19 people have died since Tuesday, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the mosque's defiant cleric, told the local Geo TV channel that more than 70 of his students had been slain by government gunfire.
``There are 70 to 80 bodies of our students,'' he said, a claim that could not be independently verified.
The siege has added to the woes of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who faces a gathering storm of domestic Islamic extremism as well as a popular backlash from his bungled attempt at firing the country's chief justice.
Authorities on Saturday were investigating what may have been the fourth attempt on his life.
Shots rang out as Musharraf took off from a military base near the capital Friday morning, apparently fired from a neighborhood directly under the flight path, officials and witnesses said.
There have already been three attempts to assassinate Musharraf since his decision to side with the United States in its war on terror.
It was not clear whether the incident was linked to the siege, but radical Islamic groups have staged daily street protests throughout the standoff.
Troops surrounded the mosque and an adjoining women's seminary on Tuesday after deadly clashes between government security forces and Islamic students who have sought to impose Taliban-style rule in the city.
Militant students had streamed out of the mosque to confront security forces deployed there following the kidnapping of six alleged Chinese prostitutes. The brief abduction, which drew a protest from Beijing, was the latest of provocations by the mosque stretching back six months.
While more than 1,200 people, mainly students from the mosque's two Islamic schools, have fled the complex, officials say up to 100 armed militants and an unknown number of students remain inside.
Ghazi, who has sought safe passage for himself and his followers, reiterated Saturday that he would not surrender.
``We are ready to lay down arms, but we should not be arrested,'' he said, adding, ``We are ready to be martyred.''
Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao rejected those terms, insisting that Ghazi would have to face the courts.
Security officials deployed near the mosque said they were continuing to demolish sections of the mosque's perimeter. A dozen loud explosions rocked the area Saturday, and gunfire rang out as a delegation of clerics headed towards the mosque in hopes of persuading Ghazi to surrender.
Syed Bilal, one of the delegates, told reporters that Ghazi was ready to meet with them but that security officials had stopped them from going inside because of the intense gunfire.
After Bilal insisted on going inside the mosque, police pushed him into a car and sped away, said Samia Qazi, a lawmaker at the scene. She condemned the police action, saying the government was trying to avoid giving clerics a role in ending the siege.
Several female lawmakers from extremist parties rallied near the Parliament building Saturday, urging the government to hold talks with Ghazi to peacefully resolve the standoff. They also asked that women and children be allowed to leave the mosque.
Before dawn, police seized control of one of Ghazi's seminaries in another area of Islamabad.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
5000 ரூபாய்க்கு ஜிகாதை துறந்து சரண்டைந்த மாண்வர்கள்
பாகிஸ்தான் ராணுவம் லால் மசூதியில் தொடர்ந்து எட்டு வெடிகுண்டுகளை வெடித்தது. இது எச்சரிக்கை வெடிகுண்டுகள் என்று தெரிவித்தார். இன்னும் பல மாணவர்களும் தீவிரவாதிகளும் உள்ளே இருக்கின்றனர்.
இந்த மசூதி தலைவர் மாணவர்களை ஜிகாத் செய்யுங்கள் என்றும் தற்கொலைபடையாக ராணுவத்தினரை தாக்குங்கள் என்று மாணவர்களுக்கு ஆணையிட்டுவிட்டு பெண்கள் பர்தாவை அணிந்துகொண்டு வெளியே தப்பிச்செல்லும்போது பிடிபட்டார்.
ராணுவம் வெளியே வந்து சரணடைந்தால் 5000 ரூபாய் தருகிறேன் என்று சொன்னதும் 1200 பேர் ஜிகாதை விட்டுவிட்டு வெளியே வந்து ராணுவத்திடம் சரண்டைந்துள்ளனர்.
Warning blasts, surrender order, at Pakistan mosque
05 Jul 2007 01:57:16 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Kamran Haider
ISLAMABAD, July 4 (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces fired a series of "warning blasts" before dawn near Islamabad's radical Red Mosque on Thursday, stepping up pressure on hundreds of militant students inside to surrender, a security official said.
There were about eight explosions at intervals of several minutes, witnesses said. Some gunfire also erupted but both the blasts and gunfire stopped after about 20 minutes.
"They were warning blasts. We have not yet entered the mosque," said the official, who declined to be identified.
The blasts were followed by an announcement from security force loudspeakers outside the Lal Masjid calling on students inside to give up, a witness said.
"All people in the mosque should surrender or they will be responsible for losses," the witness, who lives in the neighbourhood, cited security forces as saying over loudspeakers.
Liberal politicians have for months pressed President Pervez Musharraf to crack down on a pair of cleric brothers in charge of the mosque and their Taliban-style movement of thousands of religious students.
The students, some of whom have guns, had undertaken a series of provocative acts over the past six months to press for various demands including action against vice. The clerics had threatened suicide attacks if force was used against them.
Sixteen people have been killed in violence that erupted at the fortified mosque on Tuesday after students clashed with paramilitary soldiers at a checkpoint.
The security official said part of a wall of the sprawling mosque compound had been brought down by one of the blasts, and security forces had also fired in teargas.
Reporters in the vicinity said security forces have ordered them away as the blasts began.
Hundreds of police and soldiers, backed by armoured personnel carriers and with orders to shoot armed resisters on sight, sealed off the mosque and imposed an indefinite curfew in the neighbourhood after Tuesday's clashes.
Up to 1,200 students have taken up a government offer of safe passage and 5,000 rupees ($85) and surrendered.
In a major coup for the government, the mosque's chief cleric Abdul Aziz, was arrested while trying to escape clad in a woman's all-enveloping burqa on Wednesday.
Aziz ran the mosque with his brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was still inside the mosque, defying orders to surrender.
"NOTHING WRONG"
Ghazi told Geo TV in a telephone interview that 2,000 people were in the mosque, half of them women. Asked if he would surrender he said: "We've done nothing wrong."
He said he had given authorities conditions for a settlement, adding: "We are ready for an honourable solution."
The mosque has a long history of support for militancy but the latest trouble began in January when students, who range from teenagers to people in their 30s, occupied a library to protest against the destruction of mosques illegally built on state land.
They later kidnapped women, including some from China, who they said were involved in prostitution. They also abducted police and intimidated shops selling "obscene" Western films.
Some critics suggested the government initially saw the students' aggressive campaign as a welcome distraction from a political crisis over Musharraf's suspension of the country's top judge in March.
But heavy loss of life in an assault on the mosque would be very damaging for Musharraf in the run-up to elections this year.
The Lal Masjid movement is part of a phenomenon known as "Talibanisation" -- the spread of militant influence from remote tribal regions on the Afghan border into central areas.
A security official said a small, hard core at the mosque was unlikely to give up. Two bomb attacks on security forces on Wednesday in another part of the country killed 12 people and raised fears the mosque's militant allies were hitting back.
இந்த மசூதி தலைவர் மாணவர்களை ஜிகாத் செய்யுங்கள் என்றும் தற்கொலைபடையாக ராணுவத்தினரை தாக்குங்கள் என்று மாணவர்களுக்கு ஆணையிட்டுவிட்டு பெண்கள் பர்தாவை அணிந்துகொண்டு வெளியே தப்பிச்செல்லும்போது பிடிபட்டார்.
ராணுவம் வெளியே வந்து சரணடைந்தால் 5000 ரூபாய் தருகிறேன் என்று சொன்னதும் 1200 பேர் ஜிகாதை விட்டுவிட்டு வெளியே வந்து ராணுவத்திடம் சரண்டைந்துள்ளனர்.
Warning blasts, surrender order, at Pakistan mosque
05 Jul 2007 01:57:16 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Kamran Haider
ISLAMABAD, July 4 (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces fired a series of "warning blasts" before dawn near Islamabad's radical Red Mosque on Thursday, stepping up pressure on hundreds of militant students inside to surrender, a security official said.
There were about eight explosions at intervals of several minutes, witnesses said. Some gunfire also erupted but both the blasts and gunfire stopped after about 20 minutes.
"They were warning blasts. We have not yet entered the mosque," said the official, who declined to be identified.
The blasts were followed by an announcement from security force loudspeakers outside the Lal Masjid calling on students inside to give up, a witness said.
"All people in the mosque should surrender or they will be responsible for losses," the witness, who lives in the neighbourhood, cited security forces as saying over loudspeakers.
Liberal politicians have for months pressed President Pervez Musharraf to crack down on a pair of cleric brothers in charge of the mosque and their Taliban-style movement of thousands of religious students.
The students, some of whom have guns, had undertaken a series of provocative acts over the past six months to press for various demands including action against vice. The clerics had threatened suicide attacks if force was used against them.
Sixteen people have been killed in violence that erupted at the fortified mosque on Tuesday after students clashed with paramilitary soldiers at a checkpoint.
The security official said part of a wall of the sprawling mosque compound had been brought down by one of the blasts, and security forces had also fired in teargas.
Reporters in the vicinity said security forces have ordered them away as the blasts began.
Hundreds of police and soldiers, backed by armoured personnel carriers and with orders to shoot armed resisters on sight, sealed off the mosque and imposed an indefinite curfew in the neighbourhood after Tuesday's clashes.
Up to 1,200 students have taken up a government offer of safe passage and 5,000 rupees ($85) and surrendered.
In a major coup for the government, the mosque's chief cleric Abdul Aziz, was arrested while trying to escape clad in a woman's all-enveloping burqa on Wednesday.
Aziz ran the mosque with his brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was still inside the mosque, defying orders to surrender.
"NOTHING WRONG"
Ghazi told Geo TV in a telephone interview that 2,000 people were in the mosque, half of them women. Asked if he would surrender he said: "We've done nothing wrong."
He said he had given authorities conditions for a settlement, adding: "We are ready for an honourable solution."
The mosque has a long history of support for militancy but the latest trouble began in January when students, who range from teenagers to people in their 30s, occupied a library to protest against the destruction of mosques illegally built on state land.
They later kidnapped women, including some from China, who they said were involved in prostitution. They also abducted police and intimidated shops selling "obscene" Western films.
Some critics suggested the government initially saw the students' aggressive campaign as a welcome distraction from a political crisis over Musharraf's suspension of the country's top judge in March.
But heavy loss of life in an assault on the mosque would be very damaging for Musharraf in the run-up to elections this year.
The Lal Masjid movement is part of a phenomenon known as "Talibanisation" -- the spread of militant influence from remote tribal regions on the Afghan border into central areas.
A security official said a small, hard core at the mosque was unlikely to give up. Two bomb attacks on security forces on Wednesday in another part of the country killed 12 people and raised fears the mosque's militant allies were hitting back.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
பாகிஸ்தான் லால் மசூதி: துப்பாக்கி சூட்டில் 10 பலி 120 பேர் படுகாயம்
ராணுவத்தினருக்கும் லால் மசூதி மாணவர்களுக்கும் இடையே நடக்கும் துப்பாக்கிச்சூட்டில் ஏராளமானவர்கள் காயமடைந்திருக்கிறார்கள். பலர் துப்பாக்கிச் சூட்டில் இறந்திருக்கிறார்கள்.
இஸ்லாமிய ஷாரியாவை பாகிஸ்தானில் நிலைநிறுத்த நடத்துவதற்காக இந்த லால் மசூதியின் தலைவர் தற்கொலைப்படைகளாக இந்த மாணவர்களை தூண்டிக்கொண்டிருக்கிறார்.
நன்றி பாகிஸ்தான் டான்
Six killed, 120 injured in Islamabad’s Lal Masjid clashes ISLAMABAD, July 3 (AFP) - A Pakistani soldier, a TV cameraman and four Islamist students were killed and more than 120 people injured in gunbattles Tuesday at Lal Masjid clashes in Islamabad, hospital and security officials said. Dr Zahid Nazir said 40 people had been brought in after the clashes, most suffering from teargas inhalation but some from bullet wounds. “Three people died, two male students and a TV staff member,” Dr Nazir said. The state-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences said earlier that another two students had died of their injuries, while at least 20 were brought in wounded. Other hospitals reported at least 60 injured. Officials also confirmed that a paramilitary soldier from the elite Rangers force had been killed in the gunbattles. A spokesman for the mosque said 12 students l had been killed but this was not Confirmed. (Posted @ 19:18 PST)
இஸ்லாமிய ஷாரியாவை பாகிஸ்தானில் நிலைநிறுத்த நடத்துவதற்காக இந்த லால் மசூதியின் தலைவர் தற்கொலைப்படைகளாக இந்த மாணவர்களை தூண்டிக்கொண்டிருக்கிறார்.
நன்றி பாகிஸ்தான் டான்
Six killed, 120 injured in Islamabad’s Lal Masjid clashes ISLAMABAD, July 3 (AFP) - A Pakistani soldier, a TV cameraman and four Islamist students were killed and more than 120 people injured in gunbattles Tuesday at Lal Masjid clashes in Islamabad, hospital and security officials said. Dr Zahid Nazir said 40 people had been brought in after the clashes, most suffering from teargas inhalation but some from bullet wounds. “Three people died, two male students and a TV staff member,” Dr Nazir said. The state-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences said earlier that another two students had died of their injuries, while at least 20 were brought in wounded. Other hospitals reported at least 60 injured. Officials also confirmed that a paramilitary soldier from the elite Rangers force had been killed in the gunbattles. A spokesman for the mosque said 12 students l had been killed but this was not Confirmed. (Posted @ 19:18 PST)
பாகிஸ்தான் லால் மசூதியில் பெரிய வெடிகுண்டு வெடித்தது பலர் பலி
பாகிஸ்தான் லால் மசூதியில் பெரிய வெடிகுண்டு வெடித்தது பலர் பலி
Explosion rocks Lal Masjid; 7 killed
July 03, 2007 15:48 IST
Last Updated: July 03, 2007 19:24 IST
Top Emailed Features
A huge explosion was heard outside the Lal Masjid in Pakistan capital Islamabad as security forces and radical Islamists of the mosque clashed.
People were seen running for safety after the sound of explosion was heard in the vicinity.
At least seven people were killed in the stand-off between the militant students and the security forces, a BBC report said.
Earlier in the day, after a six-month stand-off between the government and the radicals, the madrassa students holed up in the mosque exchanged fire with security forces deployed outside it.
A government spokesman alleged that the firing started after several madrassa students tried to barge into a building where the Rangers were lodged.
However, the mosque's administrator and militant cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi alleged that violence erupted when Rangers moved close to the girls' madarassa and fired tear gas shells.
The cleric accused the government of starting the fighting and demanded the immediate withdrawal of about 1500 Rangers who surrounded the radical mosque on Friday.
The government has come under increasing pressure to act against the students and clerics who, last month, held seven Chinese captive in the mosque for 15 hours for indulging in 'un-Islamic' acts.
While emergency has been declared in all hospitals, the government has called for police reinforcements from nearby Rawalpindi city.
The firing started around 1300 hours and periodic gunfire has been heard from different sides of the mosque.
Madrassa students armed with sticks and Kalashnikov rifles rushed towards some of the pickets of the Rangers, who in turn fled.
The police have not cordoned off the boys madrassa, Jamia Faridia, located about less seven km from the mosque. The roads on the sides of the mosque in central Islamabad were open for over two hours after the firing began.
Also as firing started, Rangers were seen withdrawing into the nearby streets, while the heavily-armed students took the streets. Hundreds of students stood in front of the mosque, shouting slogans of jihad, while scores of onlookers and media persons gathered.
Later, police in fortified vehicles were seen moving in large numbers firing tear gas shells to disperse the students. Geo TV Bureau Chief Afsar Alam was also injured in the violence.
The students later attacked government offices while some students wearing gas masks were seen carrying rocket launchers on their shoulders to the pickets set up on the walls of the mosque.
Students were seen attacking the buildings of Ministry of Environment and National Safety Commission close to the mosque.
Meanwhile, repeated announcements have been made through loudspeakers in the mosque that 'jihad has been declared.'
The chief cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz, was heard asking the 'suicide bombers' to take their positions.
Speeches are being delivered through loud speakers installed in the mosque accusing the government of starting the violence.
More than 50 injured women, believed to be madrassa students, were admitted to hospitals, reports from hospitals said.
Even in this grim situation, Ghazi insisted that girl students should be treated only by women doctors in the hospital.
Lal Masjid is located near Abpara Market and as the fighting started, all shops in the area downed their shutters fearing that a major operation may begin later in the day.
Though the fighting was confined to the area around the mosque, the Pakistani capital remained tense.
President Pervez Musharraf [Images] recently said students of the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad were holed up in the mosque and expressed apprehension that any raid would cause lot of bloodshed.
The clash was being covered live by most television channels including the state-run PTV.
Explosion rocks Lal Masjid; 7 killed
July 03, 2007 15:48 IST
Last Updated: July 03, 2007 19:24 IST
Top Emailed Features
A huge explosion was heard outside the Lal Masjid in Pakistan capital Islamabad as security forces and radical Islamists of the mosque clashed.
People were seen running for safety after the sound of explosion was heard in the vicinity.
At least seven people were killed in the stand-off between the militant students and the security forces, a BBC report said.
Earlier in the day, after a six-month stand-off between the government and the radicals, the madrassa students holed up in the mosque exchanged fire with security forces deployed outside it.
A government spokesman alleged that the firing started after several madrassa students tried to barge into a building where the Rangers were lodged.
However, the mosque's administrator and militant cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi alleged that violence erupted when Rangers moved close to the girls' madarassa and fired tear gas shells.
The cleric accused the government of starting the fighting and demanded the immediate withdrawal of about 1500 Rangers who surrounded the radical mosque on Friday.
The government has come under increasing pressure to act against the students and clerics who, last month, held seven Chinese captive in the mosque for 15 hours for indulging in 'un-Islamic' acts.
While emergency has been declared in all hospitals, the government has called for police reinforcements from nearby Rawalpindi city.
The firing started around 1300 hours and periodic gunfire has been heard from different sides of the mosque.
Madrassa students armed with sticks and Kalashnikov rifles rushed towards some of the pickets of the Rangers, who in turn fled.
The police have not cordoned off the boys madrassa, Jamia Faridia, located about less seven km from the mosque. The roads on the sides of the mosque in central Islamabad were open for over two hours after the firing began.
Also as firing started, Rangers were seen withdrawing into the nearby streets, while the heavily-armed students took the streets. Hundreds of students stood in front of the mosque, shouting slogans of jihad, while scores of onlookers and media persons gathered.
Later, police in fortified vehicles were seen moving in large numbers firing tear gas shells to disperse the students. Geo TV Bureau Chief Afsar Alam was also injured in the violence.
The students later attacked government offices while some students wearing gas masks were seen carrying rocket launchers on their shoulders to the pickets set up on the walls of the mosque.
Students were seen attacking the buildings of Ministry of Environment and National Safety Commission close to the mosque.
Meanwhile, repeated announcements have been made through loudspeakers in the mosque that 'jihad has been declared.'
The chief cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz, was heard asking the 'suicide bombers' to take their positions.
Speeches are being delivered through loud speakers installed in the mosque accusing the government of starting the violence.
More than 50 injured women, believed to be madrassa students, were admitted to hospitals, reports from hospitals said.
Even in this grim situation, Ghazi insisted that girl students should be treated only by women doctors in the hospital.
Lal Masjid is located near Abpara Market and as the fighting started, all shops in the area downed their shutters fearing that a major operation may begin later in the day.
Though the fighting was confined to the area around the mosque, the Pakistani capital remained tense.
President Pervez Musharraf [Images] recently said students of the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad were holed up in the mosque and expressed apprehension that any raid would cause lot of bloodshed.
The clash was being covered live by most television channels including the state-run PTV.
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