PAKISTAN: Gunfire but no sign of an imminent assault seen yet at Islamabad's Red Mosque

Security forces fire tear gas and trade gunfire with Islamist militants in a Pakistani mosque compound a day after authorities gave "a final warning" to surrender. Religious scholars gather outside to beseech Islamist militants to send out dead and wounded along with women and children. Security forces fired tear gas and traded gunfire with Islamist militants in a Pakistani mosque compound on Monday (July 9), but there was no sign of an imminent assault a day after the government gave "a final warning" to surrender. Holes have been blown in outer walls of the compound housing Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, and a girls' madrasa, where the government says 200 to 500 followers of a rebel cleric's Taliban-style movement have battened down for a siege. As the stand-off entered its seventh day, Muslim clerics asked the government to hold off, while they tried to find a way to avoid a bloodbath in the heart of the Pakistani capital Meanwhile, religious scholars gathered outside the mosque on Monday to beseech Islamist militants to send out dead and wounded along with women and children, a day after authorities gave "a final warning" to surrender. A delegation of Muslim scholars along with ex-premier Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain assembled outside with loudspeakers to plead for reason. With at least 21 people killed so far in the violence that began last Tuesday (July 3), government forces have attempted to give women and children inside the compound time to flee. The government says children have been either coerced or persuaded to stay behind to act as human shields for fighters, some belonging to militant groups linked to al Qaeda. A hostage-negotiation team would also seek a breakthrough, Interior Minister Ahmed Aftab Khan Sherpao told state-run television. Troops surrounded Lal Masjid on Tuesday last week after clashes between armed student radicals and paramilitary troops erupted after months of tension.

ITN Source | July 10, 2007

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