...

Al Qaeda 'Revenge' Call Over Mosque

Other News Materials 12 July 2007 11:36 (UTC +04:00)

( Sky ) - A new video from al Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al Zawahiri has called for revenge over the storming by Pakistan troops of a radical mosque in Islamabad.

Victory for troopsMilitants who took an estimated 150 hostages at the compound were defeated after a lengthy gunfight.

However, soldiers are still combing the warren-like Red Mosque complex for booby traps.

Commandos stormed the mosque before dawn on Tuesday after efforts to negotiate an end to a week-long siege failed.

More than 50 militants and 10 soldiers have been killed in the room-to-room fighting and a further 33 people were wounded.

The mosque's pro-Taliban cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi died in the clashes.

But his supporters mounted a determined last stand in the basement of a school building.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said no bodies of women and children had been found inside the sprawling complex and none were likely to be found.

He said: "The operation is over. Everybody who was inside is out."

Before the siege, extremists had started using the mosque as a base for sending out students to enforce their version of Islamic morality.

Their methods included abducting alleged prostitutes and trying to "re-educate" them.

Although dozens of woman and children hostages have been freed, Pakistan's President is facing a backlash over the death toll.

The US State Department endorsed the Pakistani government's decision to storm the mosque, and said the militants had been given many warnings.

But hundreds of people have already started protesting against the siege.

In the eastern city of Multan, more than 500 Islamic religious school students rallied, chanting "Down with Musharraf" and blocked a main road by burning tyres.

Latest

Latest