Students on the roof of the Red Mosque before soldiers attacked and then sealed off the area. Photo / Reuters
Islamabad - Pakistani troops sealed off the area around a mosque in the capital and imposed a 24-hour curfew yesterday after 11 people were killed in clashes between security forces and militant Islamic students.
Violence erupted after a months-long standoff between a Taleban-style movement headquartered at Lal Masjid,
or Red Mosque, close by Parliament and a protected enclave for foreign embassies.
As the gunfire died down yesterday, soldiers moved 12 armoured personnel carriers, mounted with machine-guns, into the area shortly before dawn.
Power was cut off in the neighbourhood, barbed wire was placed on surrounding streets, and journalists were expelled from the area.
Deputy Interior Minister Zafar Warraich told a news conference that no action would be taken against students who laid down their weapons and surrendered, but anyone who tried to fight would be shot. "A bullet will be responded with by a bullet," he said.
The Interior Ministry said nine people had been killed, but Islamabad hospital officials later said the toll was 11. About 150 people were taken to hospital, 30 with bullet wounds, others suffering from the effects of tear gas.
A soldier and at least four students were among the dead, as well as a television cameraman and people caught in crossfire.
Liberal politicians have been pressing President Pervez Musharraf to crack down on Lal Masjid's militant clerics and their followers, who threatened suicide attacks if action were taken against them.
The religious hardliners have confronted authorities for months, running a vigilante anti-vice campaign and campaigning for observance of strict Islamic law.
Authorities had not used force for fear it could provoke attacks or lead to casualties among female students at a religious school, or madrassa, in the mosque compound.
The clashes began when students attacked a security post at a nearby government office and snatched weapons, police said. The shooting started as paramilitary soldiers fired tear gas to disperse the students.
One of the women in the madrassa was defiant, saying: "We're nervous but not scared."
- REUTERS
