DAR AL ISLAM - PAKISTAN: A RUMBLE IN ISLAMABAD - - - HOW LONG BEFORE PAKISTANS NUKES END UP IN THE HANDS OF TERRORISTS?!?!?

Pakistan Security Forces, Students Exchange Gunfire at Mosque
By Benjamin Sand

Pakistani security forces have exchanged gunfire with hundreds of students holed up inside a radical mosque in central Islamabad. At least one government ranger is dead and both sides are reporting several people injured. VOA correspondent Benjamin Sand has more from the capital.

The sound of gunfire echoed for blocks Tuesday as fighting erupted outside the radical Lal Masjid or Red Mosque.

Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao says students from the mosque's madrassah, or religious school, provoked the confrontation.

He says police were using tear gas to break up a demonstration outside the mosque when several students opened fire, killing at least one officer.

Security forces have surrounded the mosque but officials say the government wants to avoid a major confrontation.

Clerics from Lal Masjid seek to impose strict Islamic law in the capital.

...


and

11 killed as Pakistani forces battle mosque students
by Peter Walker and agencies

At least 11 people were killed as Pakistani security forces fought running battles with students from a mosque linked to al-Qaida today, hospital and mosque officials said.

Eight students died when gun battles broke out between police, soldiers and people inside the Lal Masjid - or red mosque - in Islamabad, the mosque's deputy head cleric said.

"They [security forces] are behaving brutally," Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi told Reuters. "So far, eight of our students have been killed."

A paramilitary soldier was shot dead shortly after the fighting broke out, while two policemen died later in hospital. Hospital officials in Islamabad told the AFP news agency they had received the bodies of two students who had suffered fatal gunshot wounds.

Islamists in the mosque later issued a call over a loudspeaker for their followers to begin suicide bomb attacks.

Around 20 students were injured in the clashes, among them five women, Aftab Ahmad, of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, told AFP. Other hospitals reported treating dozens more injury victims.

The Pakistani government has come under increasing pressure to act against the mosque, which is located near a busy central shopping area.

...


and


Call for suicide attacks issued at Pakistani mosque

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Radical Islamists inside a mosque surrounded by Pakistani security forces issued a call over a loudspeaker on Tuesday for their followers to begin suicide bomb attacks.

Gunfire had erupted earlier following clashes between paramilitary troops and students at Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the capital Islamabad. One trooper was killed and two students died later from wounds.

"We had asked to stop the firing 10 minutes ago, but as the firing continues we are calling for suicide attacks," said the message broadcast from inside the mosque's compound.




Pertinent Links:

1) Pakistan Security Forces, Students Exchange Gunfire at Mosque

2) 11 killed as Pakistani forces battle mosque students

3) Call for suicide attacks issued at Pakistani mosque