Radical Pakistani Muslims surrender at mosque

The head of a radical Pakistani mosque at the centre of a stand-off with security forces was arrested yesterday while trying to escape clad in a woman's burqa, officials said.

The arrest of Abdul Aziz, chief cleric of Islamabad's Red Mosque, was a major coup for the government.

But two earlier bomb attacks on security forces in another part of the country that killed 12 people raised fears militant supporters of the mosque were hitting back.

Nearly 700 radical Muslim students based at the besieged mosque surrendered yesterday, a day after bloody clashes outside the mosque. Mr Aziz tried to slip out among women from a mosque school, who all wear black, all-enveloping burqas.

"He was trying to escape wearing a burqa. He was caught at the checkpoint where women leaving the mosque have to register as some policemen found his appearance suspicious," said deputy city administrator Chaudhry Mohammad Ali.

Mr Aziz runs the mosque with his brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who was believed to be still inside, along with many militant supporters who were defying government ultimatums to surrender. Hundreds of police and soldiers, backed by armoured personnel carriers and with orders to shoot armed resisters on sight, sealed off the mosque and imposed an indefinite curfew in the neighbourhood after Tuesday's clashes.

Sixteen people have been killed in the violence that erupted after a months-long stand-off between the authorities and a Taliban-style movement based at Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, less than two kilometres from parliament and the capital's diplomatic enclave.

Some clerics tried mediating to end the standoff but the government said earlier it would not negotiate with the cleric brothers.

"They have no option but to surrender," Interior Ministry spokseman Javed Iqbal Cheema said.

Liberal politicians have for months pressed President Pervez Musharraf to crack down on the clerics, who had threatened suicide attacks if force was used against them.

No one knew how many students remained in the mosque, with officials giving estimates from several hundred up to 5,000. Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani said authorities were forced to act because of pressure from the media and the international community.