Musharraf's Forces Storm Red Mosque

In news reports coming out of Pakistan tonight it would seem that President Pervez Musharrafs calls for the islamic radicals hiding in the Red Mosque to either surrender or face death are in play right now with Government troops stormed the compound of Islamabad's Red Mosque before dawn Tuesday, prompting a fierce firefight with militants accused of holding scores of hostages, officials said. At least 20 rebels and three soldiers were killed.

Amid the sounds of rolling explosions, commandos attacked from three directions about 4 a.m. and quickly cleared the ground floor of the mosque, army spokesman Gen. Waheed Arshad said. Some 20 children who rushed toward the advancing troops were brought to safety, he said.

Well-trained militants armed with machine guns, rocket launchers and gasoline bombs put up tough resistance from the basement, Arshad said, adding rebels were also firing from minarets and have booby trapped some areas.

The assault began minutes after a delegation led by a former prime minister left the area declaring that efforts to negotiate a peaceful end to a week-old seige had failed.

Clashes this month between security forces and supporters of the mosque's hardline clerics prompted the siege. The religious extremists had been trying to impose Taliban-style morality in the capital through a six-month campaign of kidnappings and threats. Prior to Tuesday's assault, at least 24 people had been killed in and around the mosque.

The assault was signaled by blasts and gunfire. About three and a half hours after the assault started, Arshad said 50 to 60 percent of the complex had been cleared, but there were still various fights occurring.

Nearly 20 militants had been killed and between 15 to 20 had been wounded. Arshad said three special forces commandos were also killed and 15 wounded. Rebel leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi told the private Geo TV network that his mother had been wounded by gunshot. There was no immedidate official confirmation of his claim. He said that about 30 militants were resisting security forces but were only armed with 14 AK-47 assault rifles.

On Monday, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf assigned ex-premier Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to try and negotiate a peaceful end to the standoff. But Hussain and a delegation of Islamic clerics returned crestfallen from the mosque before dawn Tuesday after about nine hours of talks with rebel leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi via loudspeakers and cell phones. They offered many things to the radicals, but all of their offers were turned down, thus leading to the attack on the Mosque.

The government has said wanted terrorists are organizing the defense of the mosque. In his comments on Tuesday, Ghazi said he had offered to show the mediators that they had no heavy weapons, foreign militants or other wanted people inside the mosque. The siege has given the neighborhood the look of a war zone, with troops manning machine guns behind sandbagged posts and from the top of armored vehicles. It has also sparked anger in Pakistan's restive northwest frontier. On Monday, 20,000 tribesmen, including hundreds of masked militants wielding assault rifles, held a protest in the frontier region of Bajur.

As is usual in any group who gets together these days they chanted "Death to Musharraf" and "Death to America" in a rally led by Maulana Faqir Mohammed, a cleric wanted by authorities and who is suspected of ties to al-Qaida No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri, who we just heard from the other day, and who said the fight is a fight to the Death between themselves and the United States and its' allies.

President Musharraf is trying to retain control of his government and is being visciously attacked inside and outside of his government. So for him this attack was necessary to end this embarrassment and show that he is still firmly in control, or the Taliban backed radicals will topple his government.