Army Commander Dies in Bid To Free Mosque Captives

LONDON — Pakistan's security forces were struggling to bring to an end a six-day siege of a radical mosque last night after an army commander was killed.

The senior commando officer, a lieutenant colonel, was killed as he and his troops attempted to blow holes in the walls of the mosque compound in Islamabad in an attempt to enable some of the hundreds of women and children inside to escape.

Troops have surrounded the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, since Tuesday when clashes between armed students and security forces began after months of tension.

The known death toll in the standoff was least 21, but as gunfire rattled the windows of residences across the normally peaceful capital, it was thought that the number of killed might be significantly higher.

"The government may have to rethink its strategy in the light of the sad martyrdom of a senior army official and the resistance that has been shown by what appears to be highly trained militants," the deputy information minister, Tariq Azeem, said.

Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the cleric leader of the students, has said he and his followers are ready to die rather than surrender, and that he and his followers hoped their deaths would spark an Islamic revolution.

A day earlier, President Musharraf warned the militants that they would be killed unless they surrendered.

Officials said they did not know how many people remained inside but there could be up to 2,000.

Fifty to 60 hard-core militants were believed to be leading the fighting.

Intelligence officials have claimed that the fighters belong to several known terrorist organizations.

Twelve female students in the Red Mosque are on hunger strike and have demanded to leave the besieged complex, according to a source at the mosque. The Lal Masjid has been a hotbed of militancy for years, known for its support for the Taliban in Afghanistan and opposition to General Musharraf's backing for the American-led campaign against terrorism.

Pakistani newspapers have questioned how the confrontation has been allowed to escalate.