Red Mosque Raided

Musharraf sends in the troops:

Pakistani troops have stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad after talks with hard-line Islamists inside failed.

The army says up to 50 militants and eight soldiers have been killed, and about 50 women and children rescued.

Military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said militants were firing rockets from the minarets but troops controlled most of the complex.

Students at the mosque and its attached religious schools have waged a campaign for months pressing for Sharia law.

Public anger in the capital mounted after they kidnapped policemen as well as people they considered to be involved in immoral, un-Islamic activities.

Security forces began a full-scale siege of the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) last week, not long after mosque students abducted seven Chinese workers they accused of running a brothel.

Background here.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at July 10, 2007 06:36 AM