Pakistan Says Militants Prevent Surrender by Mosque Students
By Khalid Qayum and Khaleeq Ahmed
July 5 (Bloomberg) -- Thirty "hardcore'' militants are preventing students at the Red Mosque in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, from surrendering amid a siege of the mosque by security forces, the government said.
The militants "are using women and children as shields,'' Javed Iqbal Cheema, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told reporters in Islamabad today. A total of 1,146 students have surrendered since yesterday, he said. At least 16 people have been killed in gun battles between students and police.
President Pervez Musharraf's government has been trying to resolve the standoff at the Red Mosque, or Lal Masjid, since chief cleric Maulana Mohammad Abdul Aziz set up a religious court in the building in April to try to enforce Islamic law in the city. Aziz, who has been charged with murder and terrorism, was arrested yesterday while trying to escape from the mosque.
Pakistan couldn't tolerate a state within a state, Mohammad Ali Durrani, the minister for information and broadcasting, said yesterday, according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan.
[and]
Jihadists Using Girls as Human Shields?
Security forces are laying siege to the Red Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, where at least 800 radical students are holed up -- most of them women and girls. There are now concerns that some of the children are being kept there as human shields.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Pakistan Says Militants Prevent Surrender by Mosque Students
2) Jihadists Using Girls as Human Shields?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment