Top cleric among 100 killed in Lal Masjid operation

Radical cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who headed militants inside the pro-Taliban Lal Masjid in a tense week-long stand-off, was today killed along with 88 of his associates when the Pakistani troops stormed the premises to flush out heavily-armed hardliners holding a large number of women and children as hostages.

Twelve commandos were also killed during 'Operation Silence', launched at 0400 hrs after the talks with radicals to resolve the stand-off peacefully failed. At least 88 militants, apart from Ghazi, were killed in the operation, DawnNews TV quoted defence officials as saying.

Ghazi (43), the younger brother of the captured head of the Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz, was killed by the security forces in the basement after he refused to surrender, Interior Ministry spokesman Brig Iqbal Cheema told the media here, nearly 16 hours after the operation was launched.

There were reports that Ghazi was holding women and children as human shields, some of whom were said to have been killed.

Officials said Ghazi was shot in the leg and told to surrender but he refused to do so, prompting commandos to carry out the attack.

The death toll crossed 100 as the operation continued with well-armed militants engaging troops in pitched battles, according to latest reports.

"Troops are involved in room-to-room fighting to take control of layers and layers of the sprawling complex stretching to several acres," in central Islamabad,

Pakistan Army spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said here.

Arshad had earlier said Ghazi was located hiding in a deep bunker and was given a warning to surre-nder.

Umme-e Hassan, Ghazi's sister-in-law and principal of girls' madrassa attached to the mosque, and her daughter Asma were taken into custody by the troops, who also rescued about 134 people.

Earlier, Arshad said 50 militant students, including 34 children, surrendered this morning, while 50 ultras, who were injured, were admitted to hospitals.

Replying to a question why the operation took so long, Arshad said troops followed a step-by-step approach to minimise the casualties and avoid collateral damage to the mosque.

He said the complex had over 75 rooms besides vast courtyards and basements and all needed to be cleared one by one. Also, there were different bunkers which needed to be cleared.

There are reports that more women and children were locked up in the basement and troops were trying to verify it.

Arshad denied reports that the Pakistani army planned to use nerve gas against the militants. The Pakistani army had no stocks of the nerve gas, he said.