Mosque 'sanitized' after siege, adding to questions about death toll

[laststeamtrain]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Mosque 'sanitized' after siege, adding to questions about death toll
By Tom Lasseter | McClatchy Newspapers

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Bullet holes by the thousands are sprayed across the walls at the compound surrounding Lal Masjid, the Red Mosque. Windows have been blasted open and brick buildings blown to the ground. In the front area of the mosque itself, the ceiling is scorched. Chunks of the minarets above are gone, blasted by heavy machine-gun fire, by the looks of it.

But when Pakistani soldiers led journalists through the scene Thursday, there were no bodies. In fact, there was very little blood in the areas where reporters were allow to walk: none splattered on the walls, no large pools of it on the floor.

Addressing the nation Thursday night, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf repeated his military's assertion that only 75 people had been killed inside the mosque, which commandos raided after armed Islamic extremists had turned into an anti-government stronghold. Musharraf said Lal Masjid could serve as a turning point for his administration's campaign against Islamic militants.

"Extremism and terrorism will be defeated in every corner of the country," he said, adding that "It is time to think about what we, as Pakistanis, want to do with ourselves, with our country and our religion." He vowed to equip security forces with heavier weaponry, including tanks.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/17907.html

[kurth]

1. They probably had truckloads of bodies

all nice and buried by now.