Pakistan mosque chief tells students to surrender

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - The captured leader of Pakistan's besieged Red Mosque urged his followers to surrender Thursday, as the government said "terrorist" gunmen were holding women and children as human shields inside.

Abdul Aziz, who was seized on Wednesday trying to flee the complex in a woman's burqa, said in a bizarre television interview wearing one of the garments that about 1,000 male and female students remained in the building.

The pro-Taliban mosque has been under siege by troops and police since Tuesday when fierce street battles between its hardline devotees and security forces left at least 16 people dead.

"After coming out I saw the siege was massive and came to the conclusion that we should give up," he told state television. "The government has massive resources and I realised that people will not be able to stay inside for long."

Aziz appeared in a black burqa under which his grey beard was partly visible. The interviewer asked him to take off the veil, which he then lifted to show his face.

"I have told them not to sacrifice their lives for me," he said.

President Pervez Musharraf's government, which has been under pressure to crack down on the mosque's Taliban-style vigilante activities, hailed Aziz's arrest as a major coup.

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