Posted on 07/03/2007 8:34:31 AM PDT by HAL9000
Shooting at Islamabad’s Lal Masjid; 10 including one soldier killed ISLAMABAD, July 3 (AP) - Security forces clashed with militants outside Lal Masjid in Islamabad, triggering gunfire that left one soldier dead and dozens of students and troops injured. (According to a private tv channel nine others including eight Lal Masjid students had been killed when last reports came in). The students later set fire to two government buildings, including the Ministry of Environment. They first tore down a section of the wall around the three-story ministry building near the mosque and pelted it with rocks. About four hours after the first shots were fired, the government sent a mediator into the mosque to end the clashes,. The mediator, Shah Abdul Aziz, a lawmaker from Pakistan's tribal areas, had earlier held talks with the mosque administration in attempts to resolve its disputes with the government. Trouble began when Lal Masjid students carrying guns and dozens of women wearing black burqas, rushed toward a nearby police checkpoint early Tuesday afternoon. Police and paramilitary Rangers fired tear gas shells and, as the students retreated, an Associated Press photographer saw at least four male students, some of them masked, fire shots toward security forces about 200 meters away. Gunfire was also heard from the police position. A man used the mosque's loudspeakers to order suicide bombers to get into position. “They have attacked our mosque, the time for sacrifice has come,” the man said. An hour later, dozens of students were patrolling the area around the mosque, and sporadic shots were still heard. Some of the students carried gas masks and several were seen with gasoline-filled bottles and Molotov cocktails. About a dozen were armed with guns, including AK-47 assault rifles. Dozens of stone-throwing students shattered windows of the ministry building, chanting, “Taliban, long live Taliban,” and set the building afire. Fast-spreading flames and black smoke poured out of windows and doors on the first floor. Also torched was the adjacent building belonging to the Capital Development Authority, which oversees Islamabad's administration. One paramilitary soldier hit in the clash died later at a hospital, Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said. A doctor at the nearby Polyclinic Hospital said that about 60 people had been brought there and most were suffering from the effects of tear gas, but they also included several students _ both male and female _ with bullet wounds, he said. The doctor said two members of the security forces were also being treated for gunshot wounds. (First Posted @ 16:26 PST Updated @ 17:44 PST)
Are Molotov cocktails part of their regular student equipment, or part of their worship service at the mosque?
I don’t know how much longer Pakistan can go without a major blowup.
Pakistan run by the Taliban will be a very bad deal. Let’s hope they can deal with it.
A doctor? But, wait, not all doctors are Islamists.
Ten killed? I’m disappointed. They can do better than that.
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