The death toll among radical religious students entrenched in Lal Masjid mosque, a hotbed of Islamic radicalism in the Pakistani capital, has risen to 70, TV channels reported. Also 12 Pakistan soldiers were killed during the standoff, which began July 3 after shootouts with security forces.
The authorities said the operation to oust the militants, which began early Tuesday, had been largely completed, with troops checking a female school adjacent to the mosque. It is not clear how many militants and hostages remain in the compound.
"This is a sprawling complex with a lot of buildings," Pakistani Army spokesman General Waheed Arshad said. "It was built in a chaotic way, there is not any layout."
Arshad said the troops advanced slowly to prevent casualties among female students and children believed to be held as hostages in the mosque compound, although militants had earlier insisted that all those remaining in the mosque were there voluntarily and preferred martyrdom to surrender.
"We are doing everything to ensure casualties are kept to a minimum. There are no women among those killed," Arshad said.
The relatives of women and children left in the mosque have flocked to police checkpoints surrounding the compound in hope of information about their fate.
Occasional explosions and gunfire has been heard from the Red Mosque throughout the night and early morning, but has ceased now.
The assault on the mosque began after the failure of negotiations to persuade Abdul Rashid Ghazi, brother of the mosque's chief cleric, and about 1,000 radical religious students to surrender.
Ghazi was killed Tuesday night, and his body was found in a cellar in the mosque surrounded by hard-line followers. His brother, Abdul Aziz, was caught last week while trying to leave the mosque dressed in a woman's black burqa.
Hard line religious students advocate strict Islamic values and want to impose Taliban-style rule in the capital.
