Pakistani Forces Storm Red Mosque, Kill Cleric

SAIMA MOHSIN, ITV News Correspondent:

The order to storm the Red Mosque followed the breakdown of talks between government officials and militant leaders. Gunfire and explosions could be heard across the city; clouds of smoke billowed from the direction of the mosque.

But the Pakistani army had imposed a cordon, keeping cameras and the media well away from the scene of the fighting. Outside that cordon, parents whose children are being held hostage by the militants wept as it became clear the weeklong standoff would end in bloodshed. Their fears were reinforced when the military called in a fleet of ambulances that had been waiting at local hospitals for the inevitable casualties.

This has been a delicate operation for the military, with women and children allegedly being used as human shields by the militants. And once inside, the soldiers have discovered a series of underground tunnels linking the madrassa to the mosque.

As yet more ambulances were called in, officials released the first casualty figures, saying at least 50 militants from the Islamic school had been killed.

MAJ. GEN. WAHEED ARSHAD, Pakistani Military Spokesman:

The militants are taking positions in almost every room. They're fighting from room to room. They have positions in the basement, on the stairs, on the verandas.

SAIMA MOHSIN:

Even as he was speaking, the first wounded were being brought out, and with them, reports that the militant leader and a hard core of fighters were making a last stand in the basement of the madrassa. In the final push, that leader, a radical cleric, was killed. But analysts are warning that the military assault could lead to more violence in Pakistan.