Pakistani forces killed a rebel Islamist leader and more than 50 of his militants yesterday after 15 hours of fighting in an Islamabad mosque compound at the climax of a week-long siege.
Militants mounted a last stand in the basement of a religious school, where cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi was killed, the Interior Ministry said. There was no immediate word on the fate of women and children he was said to have been using as human shields.
"He was spotted in the basement and asked to come out. He came out with four or five militants who kept on firing at security forces," spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said, updating an earlier account of the incident.
"Ghazi was surrounded by the militants who did not let him surrender and he was killed in the crossfire," Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said.
Cheema said some surviving militants were still putting up resistance after Ghazi was killed.
At least eight soldiers died and 29 were wounded in the assault to end the standoff at Lal Masjid, the Red Mosque, military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said earlier. Fifty militants had been captured or surrendered by then.
"Operation Silence" started at 4am with a barrage of explosions and sustained gunfire, and news of Ghazi's death broke at around 7pm. Even afterwards, two loud explosions were heard.
The operation took so long because there were more than 70 rooms in the sprawling mosque-school complex, and the militants were armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Fear that many women and children were inside the complex had stopped the military using full force during the assault.
At least 30 children and 24 women had managed to get out. It was unclear how many more women and children remained inside but earlier officials had said hundreds could be there.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS