Pro-Taliban cleric buried in Pakistan
Afp, Basti Abdullah
The Pakistani pro-Taliban cleric killed in the army raid on Islamabad's Red Mosque was buried yesterday in his native village, mourned by over 2,000 people, witnesses said. The crowd, under tight police watch, shouted "Allah-o-Akbar" (God is greatest) and prayed for Abdul Rashid Ghazi, 43, and two relatives due to be buried later in the dust bowl village in central Punjab province. In Islamabad, where the army ended the week-long standoff in a hail of gunfire and explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday, at least 27 unidentified bodies were buried by officials, an AFP photographer said, while the mosque remained cordoned off. At the funeral of Ghazi, who was cut down in intense crossfire in the raid Tuesday, his elder brother Abdul Aziz and other family members who had been arrested by authorities were allowed to attend the last rites.
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A Pakistani mourner showers rose petals on the graves of dead militants of the radical Red Mosque at a graveyard in Islamabad yesterday. Bodies from the raid were buried a day after troops cleared the final clutch of diehard extremists from the Red Mosque following two days of intense fighting that left at least 73 rebels and nine soldiers dead. PHOTO: AFP |
