Lahore Mosques stormed,80 dead

It was one of the first times militants have deployed gun and suicide squads and taken hostages in a coordinated attack on a religious minority in Pakistan. The threat to minorities has been exacerbated as Sunni extremist Taliban and al-Qaeda movements have spread.

The attacks Friday took place in the Model Town and Garhi Shahu neighbourhoods of Lahore,one of Pakistan’s politically most important cities.

The assault at Model Town was relatively brief,and involved four attackers spraying worshippers with bullets before exploding grenades,said Sajjad Bhutta,Lahore’s deputy commissioner. At Garhi Shahu,the standoff lasted four hours.

TV footage showed an attacker atop a minaret of the mosque at one point in the siege,firing an assault rifle and throwing hand grenades. Outside,the police traded bullets with the gunmen.

Luqman Ahmad,36,was sitting and waiting for prayers to start when he heard gunshots and then an explosion. He quickly lay down and closed his eyes. “It was like a war going on around me. The cries I heard sent chills down my spine,” Ahmad said. Bhutta said at least three attackers held several people hostage inside the Garhi Shahu mosque. The three wore jackets filled with amunition. “They fought the police for some time,but on seeing they were being defeated they exploded themselves,” he said.

Around 80 people were killed in the two attacks,while more than 80 were wounded,Bhutta said. A breakdown for each location was not available.

Geo TV reported the Punjab province branch of the Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility. The province’s top executive,Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif,said,“We,our security forces will fight this menace till the end.” “Attacks on places of worship is barbarianism. It is a shame to cause bloodshed in mosques.”

A Ahmadi spokesman,Waseem Sayed,said the sect abhors violence. He estimated Pakistan,a country of 180 million,had around 5 million Ahmadis.

Meanwhile,Interior Minister Rehman Malik said said the involvement of India’s RAW intelligence agency could not be ruled out.