Violence marred the re-opening of the Lal Masjid here today with a suicide bomber blowing himself up among a group of policemen near the mosque, killing 12 people as hundreds of radical students briefly recaptured the complex, the scene of a recent bloody military swoop to flush out extremists.The suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body near a group of policemen standing near a hotel, 200 yards from the Lal Masjid."It was a suicide attack," Islamabad Deputy Commissioner of Police Chowdhry Mehmood Ali said, adding the head of the suicide bomber has been recovered.Seven policemen were amomg the 12 killed while 39 others were injured in the blast.The blast took place as an unruly group of radical students fought pitched battles with over 1,500 policemen to take control of the mosque.The siege began early noon when the renovated mosque painted in peach and white colours opened for Friday prayers. It went on till the blast took place at 1730 hrs at the close-by busy Abpara market.The militant students, who entered the mosque on the pretex of offering prayers, immediately began taking control of it and started painting it red. Their first target was the newly appointed moderate cleric Muhammad Ashfaq Madni.Feverishly shouting slogans hailing jihad and the Ghazi brothers, the students manhandled Madni and virtually pushed him out of the mosque well before the moderate cleric geared up to hold Friday prayers. The students demanded the return of the pro-Taliban cleric Abdul Aziz to lead the prayers.(Reporting by K J M Varma from Islamabad)
