Noblesse Oblige

Many of the women had been among the cleric’s most fervent supporters. Six of the children said they had been kept in the basement of the mosque but fled when their guards disappeared after commandos overran it, Arshad said.

The Lal Masjid cycle of steadily escalating violence is now over with the authorities in control of the mosque, the rebel cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, and fifty militants dead. The militants range from a collection of hardline terrorists in groups like the outlawed TNSM and HIJ, to some who were brainwashed students. Continue reading →

It appears that Pakistani forces are storming the breaches at Lal Masjid now — this just across the wire from Breitbart:

Pakistani security forces began storming an Islamic seminary within a mosque in Islamabad on Tuesday, where militant Islamists have holed themselves up.

“An operation has been launched to get the Red Mosque evacuated. Commandoes have entered the mosque,” Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Wahid Arshad told reporters amidst series of explosions at the mosque.

There are believed to be some 1,000 people, including women and children, inside the mosque, stirring concern about the possibility of mass casualties.

Twenty-four people have so far been killed in the weeklong standoff between the militant religious students and security forces.

Please keep the children inside in your thoughts and prayers, earlier today Ghazi said that “fifteen suicide vests” had been passed out, and there are nine known and dangerous terrorists inside the mosque.

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UPDATE: Taleban aides of Mullah Omar arrested

[h/t Ornery Elephant] this is looking like the country-wide crackdown that I’ve been expecting for awhile. Continue reading →

Pakistan might be unlimbering troops in Swat  in Malakand to ready them for an operation against the radical mullah, Maulana Fazalullah, who has called for insurrection to support Lal Masjid. The mullah has known associations and sympathies for the Lal Masjid clerics, the Taliban, and Al Qaeda; many of the students in the red mosque also come from the Swat area and are part of his “Tehreek Nafaz-e-Shariat Muhammadi” (TNSM — Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws.) Continue reading →

SSG Commander (Lt. Colonel) Haroon ul Islam succumbed to the wounds he recieved in the fighting Friday, and passed away on Sunday.

This comment from Metroblogging tells you what you need know about Lt. Colonel Haroon Islam:

That Commander was leading from the front, not like these cowards hiding behind the hostages or running in a Burqa.

Update: President Musharraf and honor guard attend Lt. Colonel Haroon Islam’s funeral, from AP Pakistan:

President General Pervez Musharraf, Vice Chief of Army Staff General Ahsan Saleem Hyat Sunday morning attended the Nimaz-e-Jinaza of martyred Army Officer Lt Col Haroon-ul-Islam and offered Fateha. A large number of other senior civil and military Officers and relatives of the Shaheed officer attended Nimaza-e-Jinaza held at Chaklala.
Lieutenant Colonel Haroon Islam, embraced martyrdom on Saturday in an operation against the militants, entrenched at Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, in the federal capital. A smartly turned out contingent of the Army presented Guard of Honour to the Shaheed Lieutenant Colonel Haroon ul Islam.

Update: There are also reports of Uzbek foreign nationals inside, and  it appears that the authorities have the lines bugged. They have picked up background conversation and cell conversations in Arabic. This should come as no surprise, since both brothers have known ties to Non-Pakistani extremists. The surprising thing was the reports of Mehsud fighters in the mosque earlier, since I do not believe the two groups would mix at this time. Two militants attacked from outside using heavy weapons Sunday, but were shot down.

UPDATE: BBC picks up the story on Al Qaida aligned terror group members inside Lal Masjid.

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I have a friend I work with from Israel – we’ve never met in real life, but we oft speak together on conference bridges. She travels back and forth between the US and Israel, an important program manager for a large company.

I love it when Anat comes on the conference bridge, because she is so sharp, certain and intelligent — whatever muddle the developers are in she clears up quickly. She’s cheerful, gracious, a newlywed,  and I do wish her and her husband well in Tel Aviv.

This is not about the Anat I know however, it’s about Anat Rosenburg — who died in a blast two years agone, on 7/7/5.  Anat feared returning to Israel to visit her parents because of the Hamas and Hez’ballah terrorists — however hate and evil knows few boundaries and terror took her life anyway on 7/7. She returned to Israel to be buried.

Continue reading →