Ghazi, over 50 militants killed in Lal Masjid crackdown

Islamabad, July 10 (UNI) Hardline cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi and over 50 other militants and eight soldiers were killed as the Army undertook a bloody operation today to flush out militants from the Lal Masjid here, giving a breathing space to the beleaguered Pervez Musharraf regime.

Codenamed ''Operation Silence'', the Army's offensive began at 0400 hrs and was in its final stages after nearly 20 hours of fierce gunbattle with the holed up militants.

Reports quoting military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad said the operation, which was launched after talks to end the week-long standoff between the militants and the security forces broke down, was in the last stages but would continue throughout tonight till early tomorrow.

He said the security personnel would start picking up bodies once the operation ended. He added that the southern part of the Lal Masjid had been cleared and security forces were being engaged in clearing up the area where radical cleric and deputy administrator of the mosque Abdul Rashid Ghazi had put up his residential accommodations.

Maj Gen Waheed Arshad also said that the figure of dead inside the mosque was likely to be higher than 50, but the exact figure of dead and injured could only be given once the operation is over.

The security forces achieved their biggest success when Abdul Rashid Ghazi was killed in a shoot-out as security forces mounted the final assault to clear the mosque.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the government's strategy to save the lives of maximum people, including children and women, who were held hostages in the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, had been successful.

''Saving the lives of maximum people was the center-point of the government's strategy and with the safe retrieval of 1300 children, women and men from the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, we have been successful in our objective,''Mr Aziz said while chairing a special cabinet meeting here.

Interior Ministry officials...Eds here pl pick up from line one, para four of DF 12, AGITATION-PAKISTAN-MOSQUE NIGHT LEAD OPERATION.

UNI