Re: Lal Masjid Siege Thread - Operation Silence (merged)
**10 Lal Masjid deceased identified as foreigners’ **
ISLAMABAD: Interior Ministry Spokesman Brig (Retd) Javed Iqbal Cheema said on Saturday that some people are exaggerating the casualty figures of seminary students in the operation against the Lal Masjid administration and misleading the people.
He told a press conference that since the start of operation on July 3 as many as 103 people, including Abdul Rashid Ghazi, passersby and shopkeepers died, and those who are challenging this figure should prove it to the people.
Cheema said after the end of the operation on July 11, 22 charred bodies were recovered from two rooms located in the premisses of the mosque, seven charred bodies of children were found in the courtyard of the mosque, nine bodies of females were recovered from a room of Jamia Hafsa and one body of a female believed to be of Ghazi’s mother was found in GhaziÕs house. “Apart from this there was no other casualty,” he said.
The spokesman said that 71 bodies were buried at H-11 graveyard and out of them 13 have been identified, while the process of identification of others is under way.
To a question, he said 10 bodies of foreigners were recovered from the Lal Masjid compound, whose pictures would be released to the media.
He said all rescued females and children have been sent to their homes, while out of a total of 628 detained male seminary students 472 have been released, and 156 students are in a judicial lockup on different charges, he added.
About missing students, he said a special cell was set up at the Sports Complex where parents and relatives of 36 students submitted their applications for their children. Thirty-two applicants have been reunited with their children, he added.