While most of the students were seen holding bamboo sticks, some preparing pickets on the buildings inside were carrying machine guns.
ISLAMABAD: A stand off between radical clerics protected by hundreds of madrassa students and the police continued at the Red Mosque here as security forces geared up for a major operation tonight with 10,000 commandos to rescue two policemen held hostage in the mosque.
Bamboo wielding students, some of whom the clerics claimed to be suicide bombers took position in and around the mosque and a girls madrassa located near it and closed the road with barbed wire even as the mosque's loud speaker played songs related to "jihad".
While most of the students were seen holding bamboo sticks, some preparing pickets on the buildings inside were carrying machine guns.
One of the clerics Abdul Rashid Ghazi announced that his students numbering several thousands would retaliate with suicide bombers if there was any action against them.
The state run PTV showed footage of the students taking positions while Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told the media that those who abducted the four policemen two days ago should take the responsibility for the consequences.
The two pro-Taliban clerics who were brothers released two policemen yesterday but held back two others demanding the release of several of their arrested students.
Geo TV reported that an alert has been declared in the hospitals here as the government mobilised about 10,000 men of Punjab Police for action if necessary.
The traffic police have been given an alternate traffic plan for any emergency situation. Security men believed to be sharp shooters have been posted at roofs of some buildings around, it said.
The policemen were abducted Friday by students at a Madrassa attached to the Red Mosque, which has recently challenged President Musharraf's authority.
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