Troops storm Pakistan mosque

? Government troops stormed the compound of Islamabad’s Red Mosque before dawn today, prompting a fierce firefight with militants accused of holding about 150 hostages inside, officials said. At least 40 rebels and three soldiers were killed.

Amid the sounds of rolling explosions, commandos attacked from three directions about 4 a.m. and quickly cleared the ground floor of the mosque, army spokesman Gen. Waheed Arshad said. Some 20 children who rushed toward the advancing troops were brought to safety, he said.

Trained militants armed with machine guns, rocket launchers and gasoline bombs put up resistance from the basement, Arshad said, adding rebels were also firing from minarets and had booby-trapped some areas.

“Those who surrender will be arrested, but the others will be treated as combatants and killed,” he said.

The assault began minutes after a delegation led by a former prime minister left the area declaring that efforts to negotiate a peaceful end to a week-old seige had failed.

Clashes this month between security forces and supporters of the mosque’s hardline clerics prompted the siege. The religious extremists had been trying to impose Taliban-style morality in the capital through a six-month campaign of kidnappings and threats. At least 67 people have been killed since July 3.

The assault was signaled by blasts and gunfire. About three and a half hours after the assault started, Arshad said 50 to 60 percent of the complex had been “cleared” but resistance continued in “various places.”

About 40 militants had been killed and between 15 to 20 had been wounded. Arshad said three special forces commandos also were killed and 15 wounded.

Rebel leader Abdul Rashid Ghazi told the private Geo TV network that his mother had been wounded by gunshots. There was no immediate official confirmation of his claim.

“The government is using full force. This is naked aggression,” he said. “My martyrdom is certain now.”

He said that about 30 militants were resisting security forces but were only armed with 14 AK-47 assault rifles.

As the fighting roiled on, emergency workers waited at an army cordon for access to the compound.