TERROR WATCH:Militants seize shrine in Pakistan

MIRAN SHAH,Pakistan-Pro-Taliban militants seized control of a shrine in northwestern Pakistan and renamed it after Islamabad's Red Mosque,while 10 people died in the latest violence near the Afghan border,officials said Monday.About 70 pro-Taliban militants occupied the shrine of renowned Pashtun freedom fighter Sahib Turangzai and its accompanying mosque in the town of Lakarai in Mohmand tribal region on Sunday,a spokesman for the militants and a local government official said.The militants declared their support for the radical leaders of the Red Mosque that was stormed by Pakistan's army this month after its clerics launched a Taliban-style anti-vice campaign in the capital.As well as renaming the mosque in Lakarai after the Red Mosque,the militants also vowed to set up a girls' seminary at the site-reminiscent of the one in Islamabad where the anti-vice campaign was centered.Authorities demolished that seminary last week after the army siege that left 102 people dead and triggered reprisal attacks by militants,particularly in the restive northwest."We will ensure education here for students who were dispersed after the operation against Lal Masjid in Islamabad,"Khalid Omar,a man who claims to speak for the militants,said in telephone calls to journalists in Peshawar."We will struggle for the mission of Haji Sahib Turangzai and Abdur Rashid Ghazi who wanted an Islamic system,"Omar said.Turangzai was a religious and nationalist leader who led Pashtun fighters against British colonial forces, and who died in the early 1900s.A government official in Mohmand, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, confirmed the militants had taken control of the shrine.He said authorities have sought the help of tribal elders to get the militants to leave the area.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070730/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_militant_attacks
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