A soldier was killed and dozens of people injured on Tuesday during battles between Pakistani security forces and students from the pro-Taliban Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the capital.
ISLAMABAD: A soldier was killed and dozens of people injured on Tuesday during battles between Pakistani security forces and students from the pro-Taliban Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in the capital.
A chronology of the mosque's standoff with the government since the start of 2007:
January: Burqa-clad female students from Jamia Hafsa, a school attached to the mosque, occupy a state-run children's library in protest at plans to demolish several mosques illegally built on government land in Islamabad
February 13: Authorities agree to rebuild one demolished mosque in a bid to end the library standoff. Religious Affairs Minister Ijaz-ul-Haq lays bricks for the new mosque.
March: Male and female students begin Taliban-style anti-vice patrols targeting music and video shops in Islamabad bazaars and brothels.
March 27: Female students abduct three women they accuse of running a brothel, then later seize two policemen. All are released after the women supposedly repent and are shown to the media wearing burqas.
April 6: Mosque sets up Islamic "sharia" court. Mosque chief Abdul Aziz pledges "thousands" of suicide attacks if the government tries to shut it down.
April 9: Sharia court passes "fatwa" against Pakistani tourism minister Nilofar Bakhtiar after she is pictured hugging a parachuting instructor.
April 10: Government says it has blocked the mosque's illegal website and radio station.
May 19: Students kidnap four police after the arrest of around a dozen mosque supporters. Two days later students from a seminary linked to the Red Mosque kidnap another two policemen. All are eventually freed.
June 23: Dozens of students kidnap nine people, including six Chinese women and a Chinese man, from an acupuncture clinic, claiming it is a brothel. All are freed later the same day.
June 27: China, Pakistan's closest ally, tells Islamabad to step up its protection of Chinese workers, state press reports.
July 3: Soldier killed in battles between security forces and students at the mosque.
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