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Mosque leader in burqa escape bid | Mosque leader in burqa escape bid |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The leader of a radical mosque besieged by Pakistani security forces in Islamabad has been caught trying to escape wearing a woman's burqa. | The leader of a radical mosque besieged by Pakistani security forces in Islamabad has been caught trying to escape wearing a woman's burqa. |
Security forces seized Maulana Abdul Aziz as he tried to leave the Red Mosque amid a crowd of women. | |
The mosque has been besieged by Pakistani troops after gun battles with armed students killed 16 Tuesday. They have been told to give themselves up. | |
Clerics at the mosque are campaigning for Islamic Sharia law to be enforced. | Clerics at the mosque are campaigning for Islamic Sharia law to be enforced. |
The deputy commissioner of police in Islamabad, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, described how the cleric tried to escape wearing the all-enveloping dress worn by Muslim women. | |
"The maulana came out of the mosque with a group of girls wearing a burqa and carrying a handbag. The girls protested when he was stopped. But officers were suspicious and after a search, Maulana Abdul Aziz was identified and arrested," he told the BBC. | |
Another security official told AFP that the cleric had been picked out because of his "unusual demeanour". | |
"The rest of the girls looked like girls, but he was taller and had a pot belly," the official said. | |
Abdul Aziz was captured as more than 700 of his followers surrendered to government forces. | |
They only want martyrdom - they don't want to go home Maryam Qayyeum, 15 Student leaving mosque Anger boils over at mosque Forces behind Red Mosque Press laments tragedy | |
Female students who were let out were being allowed to go home, while male students were being held and searched. | |
The authorities have extended the deadline for students to surrender. | |
They say they want to allow as many as possible to leave peacefully, but they also say they are prepared for force, says the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad. | |
Security officials estimate that eventually a hard core of several hundred militants will be left, but it is not clear whether the arrest of Abdul Aziz will help to resolve the situation, our correspondent says. | |
Abdul Aziz runs the mosque with his brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who is believed to be still inside, along with other remaining militants. | |
Curfew | |
Earlier, troops in armoured personnel carriers surrounded the mosque as helicopter gunships circled overhead and gunfire was heard. | |
Several thousand people remain inside the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) complex, and many of them are young students at a girls' school. | |
In addition to the 16 people killed during Tuesday's violence, more than 140 people were also hurt, officials said. | |
In pictures: aftermath Profile: Red Mosque | |
Troops sealed off the area around the mosque after Tuesday's clashes and no-one is able to get within about one kilometre of the site. | |
At daybreak, soldiers strung barbed wire across streets near the mosque, where armed students have barricaded themselves in. | |
An indefinite curfew is in place around the Red Mosque, and power and water supplies have been cut off. | |
Those inside have been ordered to give up their weapons, although officials have said they do not want more bloodshed. | |
Clerics, acting as intermediaries, held overnight talks with both sides, but there has been no sign of a breakthrough. | |
At least two deadlines set by the government for students to surrender have passed. | |
The government has said women and children can go free - with offers of money and safe passage - but top mosque leaders and males involved in killings and other crimes will face prosecution. |