Bodies everywhere inside Pakistan mosque

PAKISTAN: Dead bodies are “everywhere” inside a radical Pakistani mosque raided by troops on Tuesday, a source inside the complex told AFP by telephone.

A man who picked up one of top mosque cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi’s mobile phones said those inside were under “massive bombing and gunfire. This is indiscriminate killing.”

“There is no contact with each other because no one can leave the rooms and basements. There are dead bodies everywhere,” the witness added, declining to give his name as explosions and gunfire echoed in the background.

One of those killed was Ghazi’s own elderly mother, who died of suffocation from smoke caused by blasts, while Ghazi was still alive, the source added.

Earlier around 50 suspected militants surrendered to government forces Tuesday during a break in fighting at the mosque, a military official said.

“Fifty militants have surrendered to troops after they were given a last chance to give themselves up,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Earlier 20 children escaped from the Red Mosque in Islamabad when the soldiers launched the operation against the militants at daybreak. The government says there are hundreds of women and children still inside.

Pakistani troops launched a huge operation against militants holed up in the Islamabad mosque after negotiations to free women and children failed, leaving 20 rebels and three troops dead.

Massive blasts and intense gunfire rocked the pro-Taliban Red Mosque, where the government alleges that hundreds of people have been held as human shields for eight days. Plumes of black smoke rose above the complex.

“It is a final push to clear the mosque of armed militants,” military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.

The military said troops had entered the building from three sides and were backed by armoured personnel carriers. The government has said around 100 militants were inside the compound along with 300-400 women and children.

A girls’ religious school adjoining the mosque caught fire.

Arshad said he had “no information” about the fate of Abdul Rashi Ghazi, the firebrand cleric leading the militants.

“The militants are using small arms and grenades. They are in the basement, we have covered the rooftop,” he said.

Television footage showed a wounded soldier screaming for his friend as he was stretchered into a local hospital from an ambulance. President Pervez Musharraf authorised the storming of the mosque after an eight-day siege which had itself cost 24 lives.

Ghazi, 43, telephoned a private television channel after the raid began to say that his elderly mother was wounded in the clashes.

“I question whether the government ever intended to resolve the crisis. These people want nothing but genocide,” Ghazi said. “They kept on changing their demands.”

Authorities made announcements on loudspeakers urging residents in the surrounding area to stay inside for their safety.

Ministers have accused cleric Ghazi and his followers, who are said to include foreign fighters and Pakistani insurgents linked to Al-Qaeda, of holding women and children in the Red Mosque as hostages.

More than 1,200 male and female students fled the mosque earlier in the standoff but almost none have left in recent days.

Ghazi says all those inside are there of their own free will.

Minutes before the raid top government negotiator Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, a former Pakistani premier, announced the failure of talks with Ghazi.

“After 11 hours of negotiations we are deeply disappointed that the talks did not succeed,” he told a news conference near the Red Mosque. “We are returning in disappointment.”

Tensions at the mosque began several months ago when its students launched an anti-vice campaign in a quest to enforce Islamic law

They also kidnapped several people, accused of involvement in prostitution, including seven Chinese, who were later freed.

Bitter street battles broke out on July 3 between police and the mosque’s radical students, and it has been surrounded under a 24-hour shoot-on-sight curfew ever since.

Islamabad, Tuesday,AFP.