Reuters AlertNet Lite - FACTBOX-Sieges at Muslim holy places

Reuters AlertNet Full site

NEWSDESK

FACTBOX-Sieges at Muslim holy places

05 Jul 2007 15:29:24 GMT
Source: Reuters

July 5 (Reuters) - Fears mounted that women and children were bing used as human shields at a besieged mosque in Pakistan's capital on Thursday, as hundreds of militant students ignored a plea from their captured leader to surrender.

Here are some other instances of sieges to evict militants from Muslim holy places:

* SAUDI ARABIA - Islamist rebels led by Juhayman al-Oteibi took over the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Nov. 20, 1979, and demanded the overthrow of Saudi Arabia's monarch. The rebellion, was put down following heavy fighting in which 117 Juhayman supporters and a similar number of troops died. Juhayman was captured and publicly beheaded within a month, along with 62 captured fighters.

INDIA - Indian troops laid siege at the Hazratbal shrine in disputed Kashmir in October/November 1993 when armed Muslim guerrillas took refuge inside. The standoff ended peacefully after 32 days.

-- In May 1995 the shrine to Kashmir's patron saint Sheikh Nooruddin Wali, the Khankah mosque and some 1,200 houses were razed in a standoff between the Indian army and separatist guerrillas. The Indian army said the militants set the shrine on fire, but the guerrillas and residents blamed the army.

IRAQ - The Mehdi Army militia of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr took refuge in Iraq's holiest Shi'ite shrine, the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, during fighting with U.S. forces in August 2004. A three-week siege was ended after a compromise under which the Shi'ite militiamen agreed to leave the shrine and U.S. forces pulled out of the city.

THAILAND - Thai security forces stormed the historic Krue Se mosque in the south of the country in April 2004 to oust a group of Muslims who had taken refuge there after attacking a police post and making off with several guns. Thirty-two people were killed as troops and police used rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and grenades to end the siege.

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES - Israeli troops shot dead two women acting as human shields between soldiers and gunmen holed up in a mosque in the town of Beit Hanoun in Gaza in Nov. 2006. The mosque collapsed shortly after the 12-hour siege to evict the gunmen holed up inside.

AlertNet news is provided by

Email this article Send comments

Topics

• Children

• Women

MORE >>

Countries

Small country map
© 2004 Europa Technologies Ltd.

Reset map

• India profile
· View map

• Iraq profile
· View map

• Pakistan profile
· View map

• Palestinian territories profile
· View map

• Saudi Arabia profile
· View map

• Thailand profile

MORE >>

NGO latest

• Semmanpullai Ganesha School Opening Ceremony
PHO

• Millions of flood victims in India and Pakistan
ADH - Germany

• AIDS conference in Kenya
Norwegian Church Aid - Norway

• Save the Children reveals real cost of a diet for the poorest
Save the Children - International Alliance

• Gender Issues Among Concerns in Latest Assessment from Cyclone-Affected Pakistan
CRS - USA

MORE >>

Latest news

• FACTBOX-Sieges at Muslim holy places

• FACTBOX-Military and civilian deaths in Iraq

• Pakistan forces blow holes in mosque walls

• FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, July 5

• France confirms H5N1 flu virus in swans

MORE >>

Last updated:Thu Jul 5 15:32:31 2007