Troops Storm Pakistan Mosque Compound

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Troops stormed the compound of Islamabad's Red Mosque on Tuesday, prompting a fierce firefight with militants accused of holding scores of hostages, officials said. At least 20 militants and three soldiers died in the fighting.

Amid the sounds of rolling explosions, commandos attacked from three directions and quickly cleared the ground floor of the mosque, army spokesman Gen. Waheed Arshad said. Some 20 children who rushed toward the advancing troops were brought to safety, he said.

Militants armed with guns, grenades and gasoline bombs were in the basement of the mosque as well as in an adjoining religious school and were putting up "tough resistance," Arshad told a news conference.

"Those who surrender will be arrested, but the others will be treated as combatants and killed," he said.

The assault began minutes after a delegation led by a former prime minister left the area declaring that efforts to negotiate a peaceful end to a week-old seige had failed.

Clashes this month between security forces and supporters of the mosque's hardline clerics prompted the siege. The religious extremists had been trying to impose Taliban-style morality in the capital through a six-month campaign of kidnappings and threats. Prior to Tuesday's assault, at least 24 people had been killed in and around the mosque.

The assault was signaled by blasts and gunfire. Reporters saw more than 40 ambulances approaching the area along with trucks carrying extra soldiers.

The army said at least three soldiers and 20 militants died in the assault. Rebel leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi told the private Geo TV network that his mother had been wounded by gunfire.

"The government is using full force. This is naked aggression," he said. "My martyrdom is certain now."

He said that about 30 militants were resisting security forces but were only armed with 14 AK-47 assault rifles.

Tuesday attack followed a botched commando raid on the high-walled mosque compound over the weekend.

On Monday, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf assigned ex-premier Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to try and negotiate a peaceful end to the standoff.