Some 80 people were killed in an attack by Islamic extremists on two mosques in Pakistan's second largest city of Lahore on Friday, Pakistani TV said, citing city authorities.
The attack began when a group of armed men threw grenades and opened fire at about 2,000 worshippers who had gathered for Friday prayers in two Ahmadi mosques in the eastern Pakistani city. At least 100 people were injured.
Pakistani TV reported that commandos stormed the mosques and freed the hostages after a two-hour battle.
The Islamist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Punjab, a branch of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Several suspected militants were killed in the operation and two were captured.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Punjab group unites several terrorist organizations in eastern Pakistan's Punjab province.
The Ahmadi Islamic sect has long been discriminated against and has suffered occasional attacks by extremist Sunnis, but nothing on this scale.
NEW DELHI, May 28 (RIA Novosti)
