10 killed as Lal Masjid inmates fight gunbattle with Pak troops

New Delhi: Militant students of Lal Masjid and madrassas attached to it exchanged gunfire with paramilitary soldiers in Islamabad on Tuesday morning in the heart of

Islamabad leaving 10 persons dead and over 130 injured. The sudden flare-up of violence was sparked by paramilitary deployment around the famous Lal Masjid.

There were several women among the injured. The madrassa students were weilding Kalashnikovs, gas masks and sticks. They have been demanding that the Sharia be the law of the land. The clash reportedly began with women students charging a police picket.

The students and authorities have been locked in a tense stand-off for months, with the students protesting government policies on Islamic institutions.

As many as 1,500 rangers had been placed around the mosque since Friday. Radical clerics were also heard on the public address system declaring jihad and calling for suicide bombers to attack if the mosque is raided.

The student movement is seeking to impose Taliban-style social values in the Pakistani capital.

Gun shots were heard near the mosque which is virtually surrounded by over 1,500 Rangers and police commandos.

The madrassa houses 7,000 students, most of whom were wearing gas masks and took positions around the mosque.

Two radical clerics heading the mosque had threatened to order suicide attacks if rangers raided the Lal Masjid. The police have already evacuated a number of buildings around the mosque, which is located in central Islamabad.

It was not yet clear whether the rangers have launched a full scale raid on the madrassa.

A government spokesman alleged that the firing started after several madrassa students tried to barge into a building where the Rangers were lodged and threw stones at them.

The Rangers had been positioned there after the recent abduction of Chinese nationals by the students. The Chinese nationals had been held in captivity for nearly 15 hours for indulging in "unIslamic acts".

However, the mosque's administrator and militant cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi alleged that violence erupted when Rangers moved close to the girls' madrassa and fired tear gas shells.

As firing started, Rangers were seen withdrawing into the nearby streets, while the heavily armed students took the streets.

Hundreds of students stood in front of the mosque, shouting slogans of jihad, while scores of onlookers and media persons gathered.

Appeals were made on mosque's loudspeakers for residents of Islamabad to come to the mosque and help the students and mujahideen (holy warriors).

Burqa-clad women stood on the rooftops of an adjacent madrasa, shouting anti-government slogans, while male students armed with staves guarded the entrances to the compound.

Later, police in fortified vehicles were seen moving in large numbers firing tear gas shells to disperse the students.

Six people including a Pakistani paramilitary trooper have been killed in the gunfire, a paramilitary officer was quoted by news agencies as saying.

(With inputs from agencies)