Forces continue to fire on mosque

Jul 7, 2007

S ecurity forces ringing a besieged mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, pummeled Islamic radicals with gunfire yesterday, as concern grew that many of those still inside - including children - were being held against their will. While more than 1,200 people have fled the mosque since the siege began Tuesday, authorities estimated that several hundred remain within. Only a few dozen are suspected to be hard-core radicals; others appear to want to leave, but have been prevented from doing so. The government has refrained from launching a full-scale invasion of the mosque compound, even though the militants are believed to be severely outgunned. In the meantime, thousands of heavily armed rangers and commandos have formed a tight cordon around the compound. Clerics at the pro-Taliban Red Mosque want to turn Pakistan into a theocracy, and over the past few months, students at an affiliated madrassa, or religious school, have abducted alleged prostitutes and threatened video store owners with attacks. On Tuesday, a clash between the radicals and government forces left at least 19 people dead. The government of President Pervez Musharraf has wrestled with how to respond the mosque for months, but is now demanding an unconditional surrender from the radicals. After indicating Thursday night that he would leave the mosque peacefully, firebrand cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi said in a televised interview yesterday that he had decided to fight to the death. "We can be martyred, but we will not court arrest," he said. Ghazi's older brother, Maulana Abdul Aziz, was arrested Wednesday night as he attempted to flee the mosque disguised in a burqa. He has since been subjected to nationwide ridicule, with newspapers dubbing him "Auntie Aziz." Supplies are rumored to be running low in the mosque and in the adjacent madrassa, and Tariq Azim Khan, the state information minister, said the government's approach going forward would be "to tire them out, not fire them out." The strategy, he said, was designed to allow more people to give up before security forces attempt a raid. But militants yesterday tried to thwart those plans. At around 1 p.m., a contingent of family members of those still inside approached the mosque hoping to retrieve their loved ones. Instead, they were met with gunfire. At least one person was slightly wounded in the attack. "They said, 'We will not hand over your children,' and they fired on us," said Yasar Shah, who came to Islamabad from a village in western Pakistan. "My sister is in there. I have to get her back." A young woman named Attia, her eyes downcast and her face etched with pain, said that three of her young children were in the mosque, but that only one has come out, despite her attempts to get them all back. The other two - 5 and 9 years old - remained inside. She said she sent her children to the madrassa because her husband was addicted to drugs and she lacked the money to feed or house them. "I sent them here to study," said Attia, who goes by one name. "Now I don't know whether they are alive or not." Later in the day, some students were able to make it out of the mosque, but government officials said Ghazi appears to be keeping the rest as a way of forestalling an all-out assault. "The cleric inside is using these children as hostages," said Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, a military spokesman. Not everyone is hoping they make it out alive. "If my sister dies, she will be a martyr, and we will be happy," said Mohammad Khalid, who stood with other family members outside the mosque yesterday afternoon. "We are here to take her body back." The siege in normally placid Islamabad has become an emblem in Pakistan for a broader struggle against the growing threat of extremism. Musharraf, considered a key U.S. counterterrorism ally, has taken extraordinary criticism from Pakistani moderates, who feel his refusal to turn the country back over to civilian leadership after eight years of military rule has fostered greater radicalism. But Islamic terrorist groups have their own problems with Musharraf. Yesterday, unknown assailants fired a submachine gun from an urban rooftop at Musharraf's plane, though the shots did not come close and security officials said they did not regard the attack as a serious assassination attempt. Investigators later recovered the gun - along with two anti-aircraft weapons that had apparently not been fired - from a home in Rawalpindi, Arshad said. The home was located a mile or two from the air force base where Musharraf's plane took off yesterday morning as he left on a tour of flood-affected areas in the nation's south. The police were still searching for whoever fired the weapon as of yesterday evening. Musharraf has survived assassination attempts by extremist groups in the past. It was not immediately clear whether yesterday's attack was connected to the siege at the Red Mosque. Elsewhere in Pakistan yesterday, four soldiers, including two officers, were killed in a suicide attack. The attack took place in an area of western Pakistan that is known as a militant stronghold.