Talibans name a Mosque after Lal Masjid in Pak

Islamabad, July 30: Local pro-Taliban militants have forcefully occupied a mosque and an adjacent shrine in a Pakistani tribal region and named it after the radical Red Mosque.

A military raid on the Lal Masjid and its adjacent female seminary Jamia Hafsa in Islamabad early this month had killed 102 people including 75 suspected militants.

Occupying the mosque in Mohmand tribal region, the Islamic militants announced that they will continue the 'mission' of firebrand deputy cleric of the mosque, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi and establish a madrassa at the place, Dawn newspaper reported today.

The armed masked men took up positions in and around the Jamia Masjid Ghaziabad Lakaro late on Saturday night and people coming to pray there were frisked at the gate.

The gunmen announced that they were renaming the mosque as 'Lal Masjid' and the madrassa would be called 'Jamia Hafsa Umme Hassan', witnesses said yesterday.

Residents said the gunmen after occupying the mosque and the shrine of Haji Sahib Turangzai, a known reformist and freedom fighter, declared that they would continue their jihad against the US and its allies. They also urged locals to support them.

One of the gunmen, introducing himself as Khalid, spoke to journalists on behalf of the militants and said that they would continue the mission of Ghazi.

''The killing of Abdur Rashid Ghazi will give birth to hundreds others like him. We are establishing a madrassa, Jamia Hafsa Umme Hassan here,'' he said.

The armed men wrote 'Lal Masjid' on the walls of the mosque and changed a signboard in front of the tehsil office building to 'Lal Masjid Ghaziabad'.

UNI