Al Qaeda linked to red mosque standoff

AFP:

Pakistan is moving closer to a raid on a besieged mosque in Islamabad on Sunday, after officials said Al-Qaeda-linked rebels including foreigners had seized control and may start killing hostages.

Government forces tightened the noose on day six of the siege of the Red Mosque as a top commando died in an operation to blast through the wall around the building and allow women and children allegedly held inside to flee.

Religious Affairs Minister Ijaz-ul Haq said the government believed the mosque's firebrand deputy leader, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, had effectively been deposed by the extremists.

"Ghazi is no longer in control. The hardcore militants are in control of the mosque," Haq told AFP. "Our fear is that they may start killing the women and children to press for their demand for safe passage."

Haq said that inside the mosque there were "terrorists who are wanted within and outside Pakistan. These terrorists have links with Arabs."

One or two militants from Uzbekistan were also involved, he said.

Arabs, Uzbeks and Chechens formed the backbone of an Al-Qaeda force that fled into Pakistan's troubled tribal areas after the US-led invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

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It would not be out of character for al Qaeda to use worship facilities as a sanctuary. Nor would it be out of character for al Qaeda to murder hostages. There is ample evidence of that in Iraq. The question may be how long it will take the NY Times Editorial Board to call for Pakistan's retreat from the mosque.

The BBC has more on the groups inside the mosque.