ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — President Musharraf risked provoking the wrath of the Muslim world yesterday when he ordered commandos to storm a pro-Taliban mosque in the Pakistani capital. At least 50 Islamist militants and their leader were killed and dozens more surrendered in a bloody endgame to an eight-day siege of the compound in Islamabad, while eight soldiers died in the pre-dawn assault.

Hundreds of women and children who had been held hostage by militants were still trapped in the basement of the mosque last night as gunfights raged around them after a whole day of violence. Dozens of them had escaped earlier in the day.

Pakistani Special Forces fought house-to-house as they battled their way through the huge compound, with militants and radical students returning fire from among the minarets and debris. Abdul Rashid Ghazi, a charismatic Islamist leader who was the public face of the mosque and had challenged the government’s writ in Islamabad, was killed in the school’s basement alongside supporters.

Javed Iqbal Cheema, the Interior Ministry spokesman, said Ghazi had refused four times to surrender. He said Ghazi’s body was still in the compound and pockets of “battle hardened” militants were still putting up stiff resistance.

The attack gave Islamabad the look of a war zone, with troops manning machineguns behind sandbagged posts and on top of armored vehicles. Smoke rose into the air as explosions rattled windows across the city.