Heavy exchanges of fire broke out today between Islamist militants holed up in a Pakistani mosque and security forces after the militants' leader said he and his hundreds of followers would rather die than surrender.
Soldiers of Pakistan's paramilitary forces escourt religious students near the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, Pakistan. Photograph: KM Chaudary/AP
Earlier, gunmen fired at Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's plane as it took off from Islamabad's military airport, an intelligence officer said. The government confirmed shots had been fired from a roof near the airport but said there appeared to be no link to the president's flight to inspect flood damage in the south.
Adding to a sense of foreboding over risks posed to Pakistan's stability by Islamist militants, a suicide bomber killed six soldiers in a northwest region where the hardliners in the Islamabad mosque have allies.
Mr Musharraf has not commented publicly on the siege at Islamabad's Red Mosque, or Lal Masjid, but has urged security agencies to be patient and allow maximum time for parents to take children out of a madrasa, or school, in the mosque compound.
At least 19 people have been killed in clashes that erupted outside the mosque on Tuesday and the compound has been under siege by hundreds of troops and police. Water, gas and electricity supplies have been cut and food was running out.
An intelligence officer said the shots fired from a house close to Islamabad's military airport at Mr Musharraf's plane had been an unsuccessful attempt on the president's life. Mr Musharraf, who came to power in a military coup in 1999, survived two assassination attempts by al-Qaeda-linked militants in December 2003.
The Interior Ministry said two anti-aircraft guns had been found but had not been fired. It said a 7.62 mm sub-machinegun that was also found had been fired.
The cleric inside the Lal Masjid, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, has said he and the followers of his Taliban-style movement were willing to surrender but he also set conditions, including safe passage. The government rejected his demands and insisted he release women and children it says he is holding as human shields, and surrender unconditionally.
But Mr Ghazi told Geo TV he would not bow to pressure: "We can be martyred, but we will not court arrest."
Tension between authorities and the mosque had been rising since January when the students launched an increasingly provocative campaign to press for various demands including action against vice. They threatened suicide attacks if suppressed.
Mr Ghazi's elder brother and chief mosque cleric, Abdul Aziz, was caught on Wednesday trying to flee disguised in a woman's all-covering burqa. He later called on followers to give up.
About 1,200 students have come out.
Mr Aziz said there were some 850 students inside while Mr Ghazi put the number at 1,900.