Pakistan Seizes Red Mosque
Pakistani forces assaulted the Red Mosque in Islamabad today - the battle cost at least 58 lives so far according to the reports. Most of those were people inside the mosque. There is no word yet on how many hostages died as a result of the actions of the "brave" jihadis. The battle is still not over - some armed thugs are still holding hostages more than ten hours after the fighting began.
The troops stormed the mosque compound before dawn. More than 10 hours later, they were still trying to root out the well-armed defenders said to be holding a number of hostages. Officials said at least 50 women were allowed to go free from the complex. Some 26 children had earlier escaped.
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. At least 80 people have been killed since July 3.
Amid the sounds of rolling explosions, commandos attacked from three directions about 4 a.m. and quickly cleared the ground floor of the mosque, army spokesman Gen. Waheed Arshad said.
Arshad said hostages were still being held and that fighting continued to be intense.
"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.
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 Tuesday.
The "brave" cleric that helped touch this whole thing off is hiding in the basement of the school bravely holding children in font of himself as human shields and vowing to fight to the last drop of their blood.
An officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media 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.
One assumes that this brave cleric could not obtain a burqa to try and sneak out in like Auntie Aziz did.
War, World news | Gaius Tuesday, 10 July , 2007
By rlpete2, Tuesday, 10 July , 2007 @ 6:09 pm
I really wish the Islamic community would have a serious discussion of whar a “holy war” entails. It means that religious sites are not protected, but become prime targets (like the Golden Mosque in Samarrah.)
Holy War does not seem to be a good idea for a religion that puts a high value on certain old structures. Tom Tancredo backed off a statement that a WMD attack destroying an American city would lead to a reprisal on Makkah. He should have stuck by it; the American public would demand it.