dr.katz
07-10-2007, 05:35 PM
cnn.com
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/07/10/pakistan.mosque/index.html
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the leader at the center of the week-long Red Mosque siege in Islamabad, has been killed, Pakistan's Interior Ministry told CNN.
Abdul Rashid Ghazi, cleric and rebel leader of the Red mosque siege, was killed by crossfire Tuesday.
Ghazi's body was recovered shortly after he was killed in an exchange of fire between Pakistani forces and militants holed up in the mosque, the ministry said.
The ongoing operation at the Red Mosque, or Lal Masjid, began around 16 hours ago after talks to end the siege peacefully failed. Ghazi and his militants refused to surrender, saying they preferred martyrdom.
CNN's Syed Mohsin Naqvi said, according to police sources, 68 women and children have left the compound so far and are safe but hundreds more remain inside.
Fierce fighting in the week-long standoff has left at least 86 people dead so far.
In an interview with CNN's Nic Robertson last year, Ghazi expressed his disdain for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, calling him "a dictator."
"He's an agent of the United States," Ghazi said in the September interview. "Although he says that Pakistan (is) first ... he doesn't mean it.
"He is doing all kind of ... things against the Pakistanis just to please America."
Ghazi's brother, Maulana Abdul Aziz -- the mosque's top cleric -- was captured Wednesday while trying to slip out of the Red Mosque disguised in a burqa -- the head-to-toe covering worn by some Muslim women.
Earlier, eight commandos and at least 50 student militants were killed in fresh fighting between security forces and militants holed up inside the mosque compound after troops stormed the area Tuesday morning, military sources said.
Gunfire erupted moments after an announcement from the government's chief negotiator, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, that talks with radical Islamic militants to end the week-long standoff had failed. Watch Pakistani security forces making their final assault »
As dawn broke over the Pakistani capital, explosions echoed from the mosque, heavy black smoke rose above the compound and the death toll began to rise.
"After 11 hours of negotiations, we are deeply disappointed that the talks did not succeed," Hussain said, adding that Abdul Rashid Ghazi -- the cleric leading the stand-off inside -- said "no" to every offer from the government.
At least twenty children escaped the compound as fighting began around 4 a.m. Tuesday (11 p.m. GMT Monday), a Pakistani army spokesman said, adding that the children were safe and in the custody of the Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary organization.
Nine hours later, about 20 women left the compound as well, CNN's Syed Mohsin Naqvi said.
The standoff began Tuesday July 3 after tensions simmering between police and mosque students -- who are blamed for a string of recent kidnappings of civilians, Chinese nationals and Pakistani police -- reached boiling point.
About 150 militant Islamic students attacked a police checkpoint close to the mosque sparking street clashes. Police fired tear gas at students who fought back with guns and sticks before taking refuge in the mosque and an adjoining women's seminary.
Security forces subsequently surrounded the compound -- which includes several madrassas, or religious schools -- and police set up a security perimeter around the area.
The standoff came after a government investigation of the mosque's activities, whose students are demanding Taliban-style sharia, or Islamic law, be instituted in Islamabad.
"The security forces are facing stiff resistance from the militants, but we are making tangible progress," said Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad of the Pakistani armed forces.
Earlier, Pakistani Information Minister Tariq Azim Khan told CNN that there were 300 hostages inside and up to 60 "hardcore militants."
"We have tried our very best to settle this matter amicably," he said. "... We have no choice but to use force, which we always maintained as a last option.
"Hopefully this operation can be concluded pretty shortly," he said. "We will try to keep casualties at a minimum."
Tensions escalated Sunday when Pakistani army commander Lt. Col. Haroon-ul-Islam was shot and killed during an effort to free women and children inside the mosque by blasting holes in perimeter walls. Three other officers were also wounded in the operation.
Two students trying to surrender Friday were shot dead by other students in the mosque, intelligence sources said, but gave no additional details of how the shootings occurred.
Earlier, Ghazi had said more than 300 people were dead since Tuesday, but an interior ministry spokesman rejected that claim.
More than 1,200 people, mainly students from the mosque's two Islamic schools, have already fled the compound, but officials don't know exactly how many remain.
Ghazi had also said there are 1,900 people still in the compound. Meanwhile his brother, Aziz, said there are only about 850 inside. Other intelligence sources told CNN that there are about 800 to 900.
At least 50 of those still inside are well-armed hard-liners, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said Friday.
In efforts to oust the group, officials have cut off water, gas and electricity to the compound. Officials also disconnected 12 telephones Sunday, but an Interior Ministry official told CNN they had no way of shutting down cell phone service from within the mosque.
i hope not, but i think its just a matter of time before some of those militants inside start setting off suicide vests.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/07/10/pakistan.mosque/index.html
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the leader at the center of the week-long Red Mosque siege in Islamabad, has been killed, Pakistan's Interior Ministry told CNN.
Abdul Rashid Ghazi, cleric and rebel leader of the Red mosque siege, was killed by crossfire Tuesday.
Ghazi's body was recovered shortly after he was killed in an exchange of fire between Pakistani forces and militants holed up in the mosque, the ministry said.
The ongoing operation at the Red Mosque, or Lal Masjid, began around 16 hours ago after talks to end the siege peacefully failed. Ghazi and his militants refused to surrender, saying they preferred martyrdom.
CNN's Syed Mohsin Naqvi said, according to police sources, 68 women and children have left the compound so far and are safe but hundreds more remain inside.
Fierce fighting in the week-long standoff has left at least 86 people dead so far.
In an interview with CNN's Nic Robertson last year, Ghazi expressed his disdain for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, calling him "a dictator."
"He's an agent of the United States," Ghazi said in the September interview. "Although he says that Pakistan (is) first ... he doesn't mean it.
"He is doing all kind of ... things against the Pakistanis just to please America."
Ghazi's brother, Maulana Abdul Aziz -- the mosque's top cleric -- was captured Wednesday while trying to slip out of the Red Mosque disguised in a burqa -- the head-to-toe covering worn by some Muslim women.
Earlier, eight commandos and at least 50 student militants were killed in fresh fighting between security forces and militants holed up inside the mosque compound after troops stormed the area Tuesday morning, military sources said.
Gunfire erupted moments after an announcement from the government's chief negotiator, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, that talks with radical Islamic militants to end the week-long standoff had failed. Watch Pakistani security forces making their final assault »
As dawn broke over the Pakistani capital, explosions echoed from the mosque, heavy black smoke rose above the compound and the death toll began to rise.
"After 11 hours of negotiations, we are deeply disappointed that the talks did not succeed," Hussain said, adding that Abdul Rashid Ghazi -- the cleric leading the stand-off inside -- said "no" to every offer from the government.
At least twenty children escaped the compound as fighting began around 4 a.m. Tuesday (11 p.m. GMT Monday), a Pakistani army spokesman said, adding that the children were safe and in the custody of the Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary organization.
Nine hours later, about 20 women left the compound as well, CNN's Syed Mohsin Naqvi said.
The standoff began Tuesday July 3 after tensions simmering between police and mosque students -- who are blamed for a string of recent kidnappings of civilians, Chinese nationals and Pakistani police -- reached boiling point.
About 150 militant Islamic students attacked a police checkpoint close to the mosque sparking street clashes. Police fired tear gas at students who fought back with guns and sticks before taking refuge in the mosque and an adjoining women's seminary.
Security forces subsequently surrounded the compound -- which includes several madrassas, or religious schools -- and police set up a security perimeter around the area.
The standoff came after a government investigation of the mosque's activities, whose students are demanding Taliban-style sharia, or Islamic law, be instituted in Islamabad.
"The security forces are facing stiff resistance from the militants, but we are making tangible progress," said Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad of the Pakistani armed forces.
Earlier, Pakistani Information Minister Tariq Azim Khan told CNN that there were 300 hostages inside and up to 60 "hardcore militants."
"We have tried our very best to settle this matter amicably," he said. "... We have no choice but to use force, which we always maintained as a last option.
"Hopefully this operation can be concluded pretty shortly," he said. "We will try to keep casualties at a minimum."
Tensions escalated Sunday when Pakistani army commander Lt. Col. Haroon-ul-Islam was shot and killed during an effort to free women and children inside the mosque by blasting holes in perimeter walls. Three other officers were also wounded in the operation.
Two students trying to surrender Friday were shot dead by other students in the mosque, intelligence sources said, but gave no additional details of how the shootings occurred.
Earlier, Ghazi had said more than 300 people were dead since Tuesday, but an interior ministry spokesman rejected that claim.
More than 1,200 people, mainly students from the mosque's two Islamic schools, have already fled the compound, but officials don't know exactly how many remain.
Ghazi had also said there are 1,900 people still in the compound. Meanwhile his brother, Aziz, said there are only about 850 inside. Other intelligence sources told CNN that there are about 800 to 900.
At least 50 of those still inside are well-armed hard-liners, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said Friday.
In efforts to oust the group, officials have cut off water, gas and electricity to the compound. Officials also disconnected 12 telephones Sunday, but an Interior Ministry official told CNN they had no way of shutting down cell phone service from within the mosque.
i hope not, but i think its just a matter of time before some of those militants inside start setting off suicide vests.