Lal Masjid Siege Continues

Senior Taliban leaders were nabbed by Pakistan, including two close to Mullah Omar himself.

Perhaps the Lal Masjid mosque crisis has focused the mind of Musharraf to deal with the ongoing threat posed by the Taliban, al Qaeda, and the Islamists in his country. Nothing like a crisis to focus the mind and attention. We're in day six of the crisis and Musharraf is directing the Pakistani military to go after other Islamist groups as well.

The Government has decided to launch a massive operation against the banned Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi (TNSM) leader Maulana Fazalullah in the tribal Malakand agency of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), media reports said here.

Fazalullah is a close associate of Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz, arrested while trying to sneak out from the besieged mosque in a burqa four days ago, and his younger brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who is leading the resistance.

Fresh deployment of troops started following an announcement of war against security forces by Fazalullah after the operation against Lal Masjid, the Post daily said.

The situation is alarmingly deteriorating in Swat district as most of the students of the madrassas affiliated to Lal Masjid are hailing from the region.

Also, after the security operation Fazaullah, through his illegally-run FM Radio, had issued a statement saying anyone who supported the crackdown was an 'infidel'. He called the religious leaders supporting the present government as "rebels of Islam".

Another Pakistani commando was killed in yesterday's operation to breach the perimeter of the mosque compound.

More than 1,200 people, mainly students from the mosque's two Islamic schools, have since fled the complex. Officials say up to 100 armed militants and an unknown number of students remain inside.

Troops have been trying to blast holes in the walls in the hopes that women and children inside will escape, but have held back from an all-out assault.

At least 20 people have been in killed in the siege, government officials say.

Gunfire and heavy explosions could be heard just after midnight Sunday and then sporadically throughout the dawn hours, punctuating the thunder of a fierce monsoon downpour. By midmorning Sunday, both the gunfire and rain had stopped.

Arshad said security forces have used explosives to blast six or seven holes in the perimeter walls of the embattled school and several people have escaped through them.

Three paramilitary troops were wounded on Saturday, he said.

Reports of the number of casualties in the ongoing siege vary wildly. Some put the figure in the hundreds, while the government says only 26 have been killed.

Yet, the thugs inside the mosque claim that they've got enough weapons to last a month. I'm sure that they could stockpile those weapons, but whether they'd get the opportunity to use them is a separate question.

UPDATE:
With all the claims about body counts, you have to wonder what is really going on, especially when the same militants inside the mosque have been calling for jihad and have said they wish to become martyrs. So, on the one hand, they complain when the military grants them their wish, and then on the other hand complains when their wish is granted.

UPDATE:
There have been ongoing reports that there were foreign fighters in the mosque compound, which might indicate al Qaeda or other aligned terrorists.

The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan, who is in Islamabad, says there are reports that militants from an outlawed radical Muslim organisation, Jaish-e-Mohammad, are in actual control inside the mosque.

Members of the group have been involved in several failed attempts on the life of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, and it has also been linked to al-Qaeda.

On Saturday, President Musharraf told the students they had no option but to surrender.

"We have been patient. I want to say to the ones who have been left inside: they should come out and surrender, and if they don't, I am saying this here and now: they will be killed," he said.

UPDATE:
One of the little wannabe martyrs is so pissed at her daddy right about now.

As a gun battle raged late on Friday, with snipers on the roof of the mosque forcing the army back to its lines 100 yards away, Khan, the father who had been pleading with his two daughters to leave, called them on their mobile phone and told them their mother was outside. She had been taken ill and lay unconscious on the pavement, he said.

It was a lie but it worked. The two girls quickly left the compound and found their waiting father in the crowd. “I’m taking them back to our village,” said Khan. “They were ready for martyrdom and they’re very angry with me. I’m just happy I’ve got my daughters back, and sorry for those whose daughters are still in there.”

Saima, in a bitter, fanatical voice that belied her 10 years, told The Sunday Times her father had cheated her of martyrdom. “The teachers taught us about martyrdom and that it is a great achievement,” she said.

“I could see the fighting was in front of me and I could understand that we would die. I felt real anger about what my father did. He tricked me.”

These kids are indoctrinated at an early age to hate and to die for their cause. They'll even hate their parents who want to see their kids grow up. Hot Air has much more, including the possibility that the Pakistani government timed the news on capturing the Taliban thugs to make it look like Aziz rolled on the Taliban.

UPDATE:
Others blogging the ongoing mess in Pakistan: Ali Eteraz, Smooth Stone, and Sweetness and Light.