Troops storm Red Mosque, killing cleric
(AP)Updated: 2007-07-11 09:28
An army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, said troops were doing their best to avoid casualties among any hostages, including using stun grenades to subdue extremist fighters.
"We are taking a step-by-step approach so there is no collateral damage," he told reporters. "We are fighting room by room."
He said more than 50 militants had been killed in the assault, while eight soldiers were dead and 29 wounded.
Abdul Sattar Edhi, head of the private relief agency Edhi Foundation, told reporters the army had asked him to prepare 400 white shrouds used for covering the dead.
Arshad said a total of 87 men, women and children had emerged from the compound in groups Tuesday. A military official who demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media said Aziz's wife and daughter were among them.
The army raid began about 4 a.m. after a government-backed effort failed to negotiate a peaceful end to the standoff. One cleric in the mediation team, Rehmatullah Khalil, accused Musharraf of sabotaging a draft agreement - a charge the government denied.
Soon after the mediators left, commandos attacked from three directions and quickly cleared the ground floor of the mosque, Arshad said. Some 20 children who rushed toward the advancing troops were taken to safety, he said.
Arshad said the compound, which includes 75 rooms, large basements and expansive courtyards, presented a "very difficult environment" for soldiers facing militants armed with machine guns, rocket launchers and gasoline bombs.
"Those who surrender will be arrested, but the others will be treated as combatants and killed," he said.
About two hours into the fighting, Ghazi told the private Geo TV network by telephone that his mother had been wounded by a gunshot. One of Ghazi's aides, Abdul Rahman, later said she had died.
"The government is using full force. This is naked aggression," Ghazi said. "My martyrdom is certain now."
The 43-year-old Ghazi was once a relatively moderate member of the Pakistan establishment who became radicalized after the 1998 sectarian murder of his cleric father. He took an even harder line when Musharraf decided to support Washington's war on terrorist groups following the Sept. 11 attacks on the US.
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