Security forces have reportedly prepared for a full scale assault on besieged Lal Masjid after intelligence suggests the presence of al-Qaeda linked operatives inside the compound.
Officials said some terrorists wanted both in Pakistan and outside had seized control of the mosque and may start killing females and children allegedly taken hostage. Few of them are believed to be foreigners. Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani said the government had conveyed 'last warning' to militants holding up inside the compound.
"Let the women and children go, free hostages and surrender," was the official message to deputy cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi and his students. There is no immediate response from defiant militants. No explosion was heard and guns remained silent for most of the time on Sunday, sixth day running since the mosque complex is surrounded by thousands of troops.
Lal Masjid administration says 335 people inside the mosque were killed in Sunday's latest fighting. Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azeem dismissed the claim and said the death toll from the entire siege started since Tuesday morning was 24.
Paramilitary forces, however, moved closer to the compound that also include an affiliated female seminary after an elite military commander died overnight fighting. Lieutenant Colonel Haroon Islam of Special Services Group was shot dead on the night between Saturday and Sunday when he was reportedly trying to storm into the mosque to free women and children. President Pervez Musharraf attended his funeral held on Sunday.
Another three troops were wounded in the clashes and six men who tried to escape the compound after the explosions were arrested, officials said.
President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz spoke by telephone, after Musharraf attended the soldier's funeral, to weigh up the government's options. "They have discussed how to bring the crisis to a swift end, including possible assault on the compound," a top official said.
The government disallowed a delegation of clerics and parliamentarians from religious parties wanted to visit the mosque to convince Ghazi for surrender, fearing they may be taken hostage.
Ghazi also invited media for a news conference but they were denied permission as well. Religious Affairs Minister Ijazul Haq said the government believed extremists had taken over Ghazi.
"Ghazi is no longer in control. The hardcore militants are in control of the mosque," Ijaz said. "Our fear is that they may start killing women and children to press for their demand of safe passage." Ijaz said that terrorists inside the mosque had links with Arabs. Some militants from Uzbekistan were also among them, he said.
At least 15 militants have been issued with suicide jackets, one senior official said, citing intelligence gathered from aerial surveillance. A spokesperson for military said some members of outlawed militant groups were among defiant students. A charge Ghazi has been denying since the launch of the offensive.
Terrorists belong to the outfit that beheaded US journalist Daniel Pearl and attempted to kill President Musharraf. "We believe there are militants from Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami, which was involved in the Pearl murder. Based on intelligence we suspect that two commanders from the group are in there," the official said. The organisation sheltered many of the Al-Qaeda militants who fled Afghanistan in 2001 after the US-led coalition forces dismantled Taliban regime.
Its former chief, Amjad Farooqi, played a key role in Pearl's 2002 beheading and a 2003 attempt to assassinate Musharraf. A private television report identified the leader of the Harkatul-Jihad-e-Islami militant in the mosque as Abu Zar, a former accomplice of Farooqi, who was killed by security forces in 2004.
Militants also shot at the legs of three girls who escaped, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told reporters. Ghazi and his followers have written wills saying that they will die rather than surrender, and that "martyrdom" will spark an Islamic revolution in extremism-hit Pakistan.
"Our blood will not go to waste," Ghazi's will said. Twelve female students at the Lal Masjid are on hunger strike and have demanded to leave the besieged complex, a source at the mosque said. "A group of 12 female students have been on hunger strike since Sunday evening demanding that they be allowed to go outside," the source at the mosque told AFP by telephone on condition of anonymity. "The hunger strike women were initially kept in the basement but now they have been shifted to the ground floor," the source added.
"There is lot of tension among the various groups inside the compound on how to conduct the fight," the source said. "They also fired at the legs of three girls who were trying to escape.