Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistani commandos battled die-hard Islamic militants holed up in a radical mosque through the night and into the early morning today, killing an extremist cleric and dozens of his followers in an assault that ignited fiery protests and calls for revenge by Islamic extremists.
The army said more than 50 militants and eight soldiers died during fighting that began before dawn Tuesday.
Gunfire and explosions still could be heard this morning, a full day after the fighting erupted.
Officials said troops were trying to root out remaining resistance and clear militants from residential quarters next to one of the compound’s two schools.
Among the dead was pro-Taliban cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who had been the public face of a campaign by the Red Mosque leaders to use their students to impose puritanical Islamic rule in the capital.
Ghazi’s body was found in the basement of the women’s religious school in the compound after a fierce gunbattle, according to a senior Interior Ministry official, Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema.
Several security officials said Ghazi had been hit by two bullets and gave no response when ordered to surrender.
Soldiers then fired another volley and found him dead, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Elite troops attacked the mosque after a nearly week-long siege failed to induce militants to surrender. Ghazi’s older brother, Abdul Aziz, the mosque leader, was captured last week trying to slip out dressed in a woman’s burqa and high heels as hundreds of people left the compound.
Officials declined to estimate how many people were still inside Tuesday night, but a local relief agency said the army asked for 400 white funeral shrouds.
Early today, relatives of young women, men and children still inside waited behind army barricades around the mosque or inquired at morgues in a search for their missing loved ones as the fighting entered a second day.
The government had sought to avoid a battle, fearing heavy bloodshed would worsen public discontent with President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
He is opposed by Islamic hard-liners for allying with the U.S., and has angered many Pakistanis by trying to oust the chief justice.
