Musharraf Gets Tough on Muslim Terrorists
THE TELEGRAPH: President Pervez Musharraf pledged to combat Muslim extremists across Pakistan yesterday as furious crowds demonstrated against the storming of the Red Mosque and two suicide bomb attacks left six dead.

In a televised address to the nation, Gen Musharraf said that those inside the mosque and its adjacent madrassa, or Muslim college, were "terrorists" who directly threatened Pakistan's security. They had also tarnished Islam's reputation as a tolerant and peaceful religion.

"What do we as a nation want?" he asked. "What kind of Islam do these people represent? In the garb of Islamic teaching they have been training for terrorism. They prepared the madrassa as a fortress for war and housed other terrorists in there."

Gen Musharraf praised the army for wresting the mosque and its madrassa "from the hands of terrorists" and said: "I will not allow any madrassa to be used for extremism." Musharraf declares war on Muslim extremists (more) By David Blair

Mark Alexander

Al-Qa’eda Calls for Revenge Against Musharraf
THE TELEGRAPH: Al-Qa'eda called for revenge against President Pervez Musharraf last night following the death of scores of Islamist militants during the storming of a besieged mosque in Pakistan.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's second in command, said in an internet video that the "crime" at Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the centre of Islamabad, "can only be washed by repentance or blood. If you do not retaliate… Musharraf will not spare any of you.
"You must back the mujahideen in Afghanistan… the jihad in Afghanistan is the door to salvation for Afghanistan and Pakistan." Al-Qa'eda targets Musharraf after bloody siege (more) By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad

TIMESONLINE:
Hundreds feared killed in mosque siege

THE GUARDIAN:
21/7 bomb plotters sentenced to life as judge says they were under control of al-Qaida By Duncan Campbell

Mark Alexander

Abdul Rashid Ghazi is Dead

Photo of Abdul Rashid Ghazi courtesy of the BBC

BBC: A Pakistani cleric leading militants battling troops at Islamabad's Red Mosque, has been killed, Interior Ministry officials say.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi's body was found in the basement of the mosque, hours after troops stormed it, officials said.

The army says up to 50 militants and eight soldiers have been killed, and about 50 women and children rescued.

Students at the mosque and its attached religious schools have waged a campaign for months pressing for Sharia law. Pakistani rebel cleric 'killed' (more)

Mark Alexander

Pakistani Troops Storm Red Mosque
GLOBE AND MAIL: ISLAMABAD — Pakistani troops seized Islamabad's Red Mosque on Tuesday and attempted to flush out the remaining militants entrenched inside a women's religious school in fierce fighting that left at least 50 militants and eight soldiers dead, the army said.

The troops stormed the mosque compound before dawn. Eight hours later, they were still trying to root out the well-armed defenders said to be holding about 150 hostages. Officials said at least 50 women were allowed to go free from the complex. Some 26 children had earlier escaped.

Clashes this month between security forces and supporters of the mosque's hard-line clerics prompted the siege. The religious extremists had been trying to impose Taliban-style morality in the capital through a six-month campaign of kidnappings and threats. At least 67 people have been killed since July 3.

Amid the sounds of rolling explosions, commandos attacked from three directions about 4 a.m. and quickly cleared the ground floor of the mosque, army spokesman General Waheed Arshad said. Some 20 children who rushed toward the advancing troops were brought to safety, he said. Dozens dead as Pakistani troops storm mosque (more) By Zarar Khan

Mark Alexander

Indoctrinated Pakistani Children in the Red Mosque Choose Martyrdom Over Freedom
THE SUNDAY TIMES: SAIMA KHAN wants to die a martyr. Life is transient, she told her father in a telephone call last week, and the real glory is to sacrifice it for Allah. Her statement would be alarming at any age, but Saima is only 10.

As she spoke, rifle shots rang out, the acrid smell of tear gas drifted over Islamabad and hundreds of troops surrounded the pro-Taliban Red Mosque, a religious school complex in the heart of Pakistan’s capital where Saima was among hundreds of children being held as virtual hostages in a stand-off between militants and the government.

Saima and her 14-year-old sister, Asma, were embroiled in a struggle for the soul of Pakistan in which up to 70 militants died last week and more than 100 were injured, according to mosque officials.

Holed up inside the complex behind the lines of troops and razor wire, the children – many of them girls whose families had sent them to the mosque to receive a strict Islamic education – repeatedly rejected relatives’ entreaties to leave before a threatened army onslaught.

There was evidence that many had been brainwashed into a cult of martyrdom, and the authorities feared last night that some were being prepared to be suicide bombers. In barely eight weeks, Saima had been transformed from a religious but fun-loving girl to a jihadi, grimly craving martyrdom.

At the barricades, her father, Luftullah Khan, a shopkeeper, frantically pestered soldiers to let him rescue both his daughters. But when he got through to them on their mobile telephone, they said they preferred martyrdom to freedom. Brainwashed children plead to die as martyrs in Red Mosque siege (more) By Dean Nelson in Islamabad

Mark Alexander

Abdul Rashid Ghazi Would Rather Die Than Surrender

Photo of Abdul Rashid Ghazi courtesy of the BBC

BBC: The deputy leader of radical Islamic students besieged at the Red Mosque in Pakistan's capital Islamabad has said he would rather die than surrender.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi's defiant statement came as the stand-off, which has seen 19 people killed, entered a fourth day.

President Pervez Musharraf has ordered his security forces to hold back from a full assault.

Gen Musharraf is said to be anxious to avoid casualties among women and girls still inside the complex.

Mr Ghazi had earlier said he would leave the mosque on certain conditions, including being allowed to look after his ailing mother.

The offer to end the confrontation came after Mr Ghazi's brother Maulana Abdul Aziz - leader of the mosque - was captured while trying to escape wearing a woman's burqa.

Pakistani government ministers dismissed the deal.

Shortly afterwards, Mr Ghazi said he would not surrender unconditionally.

"We have decided that we can be martyred but we will not surrender. We are ready for our heads to be cut off but we will not bow to them," he said. Pakistan cleric makes defiant vow (more)

Mark Alexander