Islamabad, July 7
Pakistani security forces raided and captured the boys’ madrassa run by the radical clerics of the Lal Masjid and took into custody a large number of students as a series of massive explosions and gunfire rocked the area around the besieged mosque complex creating panic among people in the capital.

Jamia Faridia madarassa, which had over 3,000 students on its rolls, was taken over late last night by the security forces after a series of deafening explosions in areas near the masjid complex, where several hundred militants led by deputy head of the mosque Abdul Rashid Ghazi are holed up and engaged in a tense stand-off with security forces, witnesses and media reports said.

The madrassa is located in a posh area in the capital and is about 4 kms from the mosque. In the same area, top diplomats and the disgraced scientist A.Q. Khan also resided.

Most of the boys of the madrassa, however, are believed to have been holed up in the Lal Masjid along with Ghazi and other militants. Jamia Hafsa, the girls’ madrassa, is attached to the mosque which is located in another posh area of the city.

Jamia Faridia, the boys' madrassa, was allegedly constructed on illegally acquired land at the foothills of picturesque Margala Hills.

According to Ghazi, the two madrassas housed poor children numbering about 7,000.

For the past seven months, the city witnessed students of the two madrassas indulging in moral policing. They hit the headlines after abducting a police patrol two months ago to demand the release of some detained boys.

When the Pakistan Government deployed paramilitary Rangers at the Lal Masjid leading to the confrontation on July 3, Jamia Fardia remained open. It was only later when heavy contingents of police encircled it, many students reportedly fled and joined the Ghazi brothers in the main mosque.

Before Fardia was raided and captured, large explosions which could be heard kilometres away created panic among people all round the capital.

While some reports said the explosions took place in the masjid complex, Geo TV said they occurred in three localities away from Lal Masjid. — PTI

Pakistani security forces tonight blew up part of the wall of the compound, a security official said. There was also an intense exchange of fire before midnight between security forces and Islamists holed up inside the fortified Lal Masjid complex, the official said. "The security forces dynamited the wall to allow people inside to come out if they want to," he said. — AFP