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More than 50 militants killed in assault on Pakistani mosque(using women & children as shields)
Kyodo News ^ | 07/10/07

Posted on 07/10/2007 8:20:25 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

More than 50 militants killed in assault on Pakistani mosque

ISLAMABAD, July 10 KYODO

Pakistani security forces stormed Tuesday the compound of a mosque in the Pakistani capital where militant Islamists had barricaded themselves inside, killing more than 50, apparently including the rebel cleric who led the standoff, and wounding about 50 more.

Defense Ministry Spokesman Maj. Gen. Wahid Arshad told a press conference that the army operation had been progressing slowly because militants were still holed up inside the basement and were using women and children as human shields.

Local radio and television reports said rebel cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi was among those killed, but the circumstances of his death remain unclear.

GEO TV, quoting officials of the Interior Ministry, said Ghazi had barricaded himself in a bunker inside the basement of the seminary and was killed along with some of his close associates when he refused to surrender.

Official sources said the operation against the Red Mosque has been almost completed and army personnel was recovering arms and removing injured and dead bodies form the basement of the seminary.

Security officials had stormed the Red Mosque complex at 4 a.m. and it took them nearly 15 hours to clean it of the Islamic militants barricaded inside since early July.

Earlier, Defense Ministry spokesman Arshad said eight security troops were killed and 29 injured in the operation that began after negotiations with the rebel leader failed.

Forty-five militants have also been arrested, he said.

Security forces fairly quickly assumed control of nearly 70 percent of the Red Mosque complex, but resistance continued for hours from the basement of the adjoining seminary for female students and other quarters.

''There are women and children inside the complex. We are taking steps to avoid collateral damage. We are going step by step, room by room, hall by hall,'' Arshad said.

He said earlier that intense fighting was still taking place in the four-story seminary building and that Ghazi was at that time reported to be alive in its basement.

And he denied reports telecast by private television that nerve gas was used to immobilize those barricaded inside the mosque complex.

''We do not have nerve gas. We do not use nerve gas,'' Arshad said, adding he is not in a position to say how many women and children have been taken hostage inside the basement.

According to government information, the militants inside the complex numbered 180.

There were believed to be some 1,000 people, including students, women and children, inside the mosque as ''human shields.''

Since January, the administration of the mosque and female students of the seminary had been campaigning for the imposition of strict Islamic law. They had been supported by militant Islamists and male religious students in Islamabad.

Asked about the fate of the cleric, Arshad said, ''I have no information on his whereabouts.''

Earlier, Ghazi had told private GEO TV by mobile phone that his ''martyrdom'' was imminent.

''I am confined to a room in the basement filled with smoke,'' he said. ''My mother was wounded and is taking her last breath. I want to give a message to the world that my martyrdom is certain.''

It is not known which of the basements of the mosque and the seminary he was hiding in.

Chaudri Shujaat Hussain, who had led a government team in talks with Ghazi until early Tuesday morning, told the television network that foreigners were also holed up inside the complex.

Hussain, head of the 13-member delegation comprising government officials and scholars, said negotiations were complicated by the presence of foreigners.

Hussain, also head of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and a former prime minister, said the negotiations took a new turn when Ghazi raised the question of the fate of the foreigners inside.

Hussain said he felt that Ghazi was not free to take an independent decision.

Arshad had said security forces encountered stiff resistance while trying to break into the building of the mosque and the adjacent religious school. The school caught fire after a series of explosions, witnesses said.

Arshad said commandos have orders not to fire on those who surrender. ''Of course, those who put up resistance would be killed,'' he said.

When security forces entered the compound, 20 children managed to escape and were safe with the troops, he said.

Arshad said militants were using grenades and automatic weapons.

It was reported Monday that President Gen. Pervez Musharraf allowed the security forces to storm the mosque after a meeting of senior government officials Sunday evening.

Maulana Rafi Usmani, head of the group of scholars in the government-named delegation, said Tuesday an agreement was hammered out with the cleric, but it was rejected by Musharraf.

Usmani told GEO TV that the delegation finalized an agreement with the cleric that was approved by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz but rejected by Musharraf.

Militant religious students clashed with security forces on July 3, and 24 people had been killed in the weeklong standoff.

According to the government, 1,250 male and female Muslim students who were barricaded themselves in the mosque and seminary had surrendered by Monday.

==Kyodo


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: islam; mosque; muhammadsminions; pakistan; standoff; tlr; waronislamism
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Brave Jihadis, again using women and children as shields.
1 posted on 07/10/2007 8:20:32 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster; Gengis Khan; razoroccam; voletti; Srirangan; sukhoi-30mki

Ping!


2 posted on 07/10/2007 8:21:07 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster (kim jong-il, chia head, ppogri, In Grim Reaper we trust)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Typical of criminals, cowards and jihadi’s to hide behind the women and children.

It’s SOP for them.

3 posted on 07/10/2007 8:24:32 AM PDT by Mr. Jazzy (Very Proud Dad of LCpl Smoothguy242 USMC of 1/3 Marines, now fighting for freedom, on duty in Iraq.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

And Satan amuses himself by locking up the jihadists with their leader in a steel cage for a 1000 years after finding no virgins for them.


4 posted on 07/10/2007 8:25:38 AM PDT by AU72
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Where's the vocal outrage from so-called "moderate" Muslims over this cowardly, despicable practice???

Where are the honorable Imams who will demand that these loathsome monsters be condemned???

* crickets chirping *

5 posted on 07/10/2007 8:26:12 AM PDT by TChris (The Republican Party is merely the Democrat Party's "away" jersey - Vox Day)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

This is a sad day, indeed. Pakistan is out killing “militants” and the body-count is still in the 10’s, instead of the 1000’s, where it should be. Sad for Pakistan. Sad for the world.


6 posted on 07/10/2007 8:26:22 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: TigerLikesRooster

BTTT


7 posted on 07/10/2007 8:28:25 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: TigerLikesRooster
I can think of at least 37 other mosques IN IRAQ where doing this a long time ago would have saved hundreds of Iraqi and American lives.

Just saying.

8 posted on 07/10/2007 8:29:41 AM PDT by Publius6961 (MSM: Israelis are killed by rockets; Lebanese are killed by Israelis.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
These women and children are being used as shields, but I'm sorry to say that they are not necessarily "innocent."

According to the article, There were believed to be some 1,000 people, including students, women and children, inside the mosque as ''human shields.''

These "students" are trainee terrorists, and these "women" are terrorist enablers.

As the article goes on to say: Since January, the administration of the mosque and female students of the seminary had been campaigning for the imposition of strict Islamic law. They had been supported by militant Islamists and male religious students in Islamabad.

In other words, the females were in the forefront of making demands on the government, and the male militants were acting in support of them.

It's true that women are abused under Islam, yet women are also among Islam's strongest supporters. Call it Stockholm syndrome, if you like.

9 posted on 07/10/2007 8:46:33 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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Commander Killed In Pakistan (Red) Mosque Siege
The Telegraph (UK) | 7-8-2007 | Isambard Wilkinson
Posted on 07/08/2007 9:24:30 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1862782/posts

Pakistan troops storm Islamabad mosque: military
afp | 09/07/2007 | afp
Posted on 07/09/2007 8:26:04 PM EDT by mdittmar
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1863304/posts

Militants killed in Pakistan mosque raid
news.com.au | 10 July 2007
Posted on 07/09/2007 10:31:59 PM EDT by Aussie Dasher
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1863371/posts

Troops storm Pakistan mosque compound
Yahoo News/AP
Posted on 07/09/2007 11:31:50 PM EDT by nuconvert
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1863403/posts

Pakistan - Attack in progress at Lal Masjid mosque - “Corpses everywhere”
AFP via translation | July 10, 2007
Posted on 07/10/2007 2:10:33 AM EDT by HAL9000
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1863454/posts

Pakistani troops seize Red Mosque-(more info)
ap | 7/10/07 | By ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writer
Posted on 07/10/2007 6:28:25 AM EDT by Flavius
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1863485/posts


10 posted on 07/10/2007 9:15:30 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Profile updated Monday, July 9, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Yawn .. just yet another day in a neighboring Islamic country.. Ask us, we in India have plenty of them!


11 posted on 07/10/2007 9:22:37 AM PDT by Srirangan
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To: TigerLikesRooster
"Local radio and television reports said rebel cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi was among those killed, but the circumstances of his death remain unclear."

I understand that Ghazi used his mother as a human shield and then when she was killed he used her body as a sandbag.

12 posted on 07/10/2007 9:26:50 AM PDT by blam (Secure the border and enforce the law)
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To: TChris; samtheman; TigerLikesRooster

Actually, I think there were Muslim scholars trying to argue this guy out of the mosque.

As for killing thousands of radicals, you should remember there is more sympathy in Pakistan for the Taliban than for the US. Mushie is risking a LOT here.


13 posted on 07/10/2007 9:30:52 AM PDT by Little Ray (Rudy Guiliani: If his wives can't trust him, why should we?)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
I nominate Musharraf for the Nobel Peace Prize!

14 posted on 07/10/2007 9:31:11 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (I never consented to live in the Camp of the Saints.)
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To: Publius6961
You got that right.

Every mosque should have 500-600 pounds of C-4 and det cord attached to the door bell.

15 posted on 07/10/2007 10:19:43 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (liberals suck....... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.,)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
''I am confined to a room in the basement filled with smoke,'' he said. ''My mother was wounded and is taking her last breath. I want to give a message to the world that my martyrdom is certain.''

Eh, whatever.

Enjoy eternity with your 72 Helen Thomas look-a-likes, muzzie boy.

I'll let Algore know your carbon foorprint is now zero.
16 posted on 07/10/2007 10:25:21 AM PDT by reagan_fanatic (Press 1 for English, press 2 for deport)
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To: 1stbn27; 2111USMC; 2nd Bn, 11th Mar; 68 grunt; A.A. Cunningham; ASOC; AirForceBrat23; Ajnin; ...
According to government information, the militants inside the complex numbered 180.

There were believed to be some 1,000 people, including students, women and children, inside the mosque as ''human shields.''

17 posted on 07/19/2007 5:24:07 PM PDT by freema (Marine FRiend, 1stCuz2xRemoved, Mom, Aunt, Sister, Friend, Wife, Daughter, NIECE)
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To: freema

My “no surprise” ping.


18 posted on 07/19/2007 5:28:21 PM PDT by lilycicero (www.frankwuterich.com)
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To: freema

Did you notice the date of the article.


19 posted on 07/19/2007 5:55:01 PM PDT by Marine_Uncle (Hunter in 2008)
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To: Marine_Uncle

Yeah, I was trying to follow this, wanted to know the outcome of all those women and kids, and never found a report until now.


20 posted on 07/19/2007 6:03:26 PM PDT by freema (Marine FRiend, 1stCuz2xRemoved, Mom, Aunt, Sister, Friend, Wife, Daughter, NIECE)
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