About 1,000 Taliban-inspired students entrenched themselves in the mosque, a hotbed of Islamic radicalism in the Pakistani capital, July 3, following clashes with government troops. The students had been demanding that Pakistani authorities promote stricter Islamic values in the country.
Pakistani officials said a few days later that the students were holding women and children inside the mosque. About 1,200 people left the building July 5 and several more, including two female students, surrendered at dawn on the next day.
Officially, 73 Islamic radicals and 10 servicemen died during the army assault that began Tuesday. However, local media put the death toll far higher. The Frontier Post newspaper cited anonymous sources as saying that over 500 students died, including many women.
The authorities denied the figure, and also dismissed a statement by Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the radicals' spiritual leader, who was killed during the fighting, that extremists had buried dozens of people during the siege.
"No mass burials have been found on the premises of Lal Masjid [Red Mosque]," Information Minister Tariq Azim said.
The fate of many who were in the mosque remains unknown. The media said the arrested radicals had been moved to a local sports center, and that an inquiry would be opened into the case.
Meanwhile, those killed during the storming of the compound are being buried. Ghazi has been interred in his ancestral village in the Punjab province, in the east of the country.
Abdul Rashid's brother, Abdul Aziz, was arrested July 4 while trying to escape clad in a woman's burqa, which covers the face and body, along with a few other female radicals. Aziz was allowed to attend the funeral.
Several dozen victims were buried earlier Thursday at a cemetery on the outskirts of the capital.
