Security forces fired tear gas and traded gunfire with Islamist militants in a Pakistani mosque compound today a day after the government gave "a final warning" to surrender.
Holes have been blown in outer walls of the compound housing Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, and a girls' madrasa, where the government says 200 to 500 followers of a rebel cleric's Taliban-style movement a resisting a siege.
As the standoff entered its seventh day, Muslim clerics asked the government to hold off while they tried to find a way to avoid a bloodbath in the heart of the Pakistani capital.
With at least 21 people killed so far in the violence that began last Tuesday, government forces have attempted to give women and children inside the compound time to flee.
There are concerns some children have been either coerced or persuaded to stay behind to act as human shields. Authorities blared out over loudspeakers what they said was a final warning last night.
Rebel cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi and his hardcore of fighters have ignored warnings to surrender or die. Ghazi said he and his followers hoped their deaths would spark an Islamic revolution.
Government and military officials say there are 50 to 60 hard-core militants leading the fighting, but most of the others are women and children.