PAKISTAN: Bodies of militants killed in mosque attack are buried in Islamabad

Militants killed in this week's assault on the Red Mosque in Islamabad are buried, while many still search for their missing relatives who were believed to be inside the mosque before it was attacked . Pakistan began burying more than 70 militants killed in an attack against Islamabad's Red Mosque on Thursday (July 12). At the crack of dawn, dozens of NGOs, students and teachers of the mosque began digging the ground to bury the militants, whose bodies were enclosed in wooden coffins. "We used to go to the mosque and listen to these people. They have reached martyrdom today and did not preach anything wrong," said Sattar, a resident who was present at the burial site. Pakistani security forces had secured a mosque and school complex after an assault that killed a rebel cleric and 73 bodies, Pakistani Major-General Waheed Arshad said. The military had earlier estimated more than 50 militants had been killed Security forces also stepped up security in the capital and transports were seen plying on main roads in Islamabad. However, many questions were unanswered including the final death toll and whether any women or children had been killed at the radical Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque. Abdul Rehman, father of a student in the Red Mosque said that he was still waiting to meet his son whose whereabouts could not be confirmed so far. "I don't know, whether he is killed or in jail. We were told to meet the children but we still could not find them," he said. Soldiers finished securing a headquarters and residential complex where hardline cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi lived. No militants, or other followers of Ghazi, were left inside, Arshad said. Ghazi died in a hail of bullets on Tuesday (July 10). His body was taken for burial in his home village in Punjab province, an Interior Ministry official said. Nine members of the security forces were killed and 29 wounded in "Operation Silence", the codename for the assault carried out by 164 commandos. Asked if any women or children were among the dead, he said nine of the bodies had been burned beyond recognition. Earlier, he said he had no reports of women or children killed. The search was going on, he said. Heavy security was still in place around the compound with reporters kept back. But a curfew in the neighbourhood for more than a week was lifted for a few hours in the afternoon. Yaser, a university student said that the administration of the mosque, also known as the Lal Masjid, was wrong to forcefully impose Islamic Sharia. "The 160 million population of Pakistan want Islamic Shariat in the country but the way the people of Lal Masjid want to impose Islamic Shariat was totally wrong. We will not tolerate a state within the state," he said. The clerics had sought to impose strict Islamic law in the capital and incited followers to run a vigilante anti-vice campaign. No one knew how many people were in the complex when the assault began. Estimates from officials on the number remaining had ranged from hundreds to 2,000. Arshad said the military, before the assault, had estimated 200 to 300 people were in the complex. Many Pakistanis berated Musharraf for not clamping down sooner on the students who abducted policemen and kidnapped women they accused of being prostitutes.

ITN Source | July 12, 2007

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