By DPA
Islamabad : Thirteen followers of a hard-line cleric at a radical mosque surrendered Wednesday as the 11.30 a.m. IST deadline set by the government to laying down arms passed.
At least 21 people, including two soldiers, have been killed and more than 200 injured during the last 24 hours in the ongoing gun battle between security forces and hundreds of religious students of a heavily fortified Lal Masjid or Red Mosque.
The extremist administration of the mosque has been in standoff with the authorities for the last five months over its attempts to impose a strict Taliban-style, Islamic Sharia way of life on the citizens of the Pakistani capital.
"We have set a deadline of 11.00 a.m. (06:00 GMT) for laying down weapons, and scores of students willing for surrender have contacted us," Secretary Information Syed Mehmood told reporters.
At least 13 veiled female students surrendered after the paramilitary forces deployed around the mosque and its two adjacent seminaries announced the deadline on loudspeakers.
Meanwhile, the radical cleric at the mosque also offered a conditional surrender.
"We are ready to lay down arms if President Musharraf gives us guarantee that no operation will be conducted against us," vice administrator of Lal Masjid Ghazi Abdul Rashid told Geo news channel.
"We will not surrender to the military but before ulemas (Islamic scholars)," he said, insisting that he would not give up his demand for enforcement of strict Islamic law in the country.
Hundreds of military and paramilitary troops were ready to storm the mosque. The area surrounding the mosque was completely cordoned off and all the roads leading to Islamabad were also sealed.
The government lost patience in the five-month stand-off with the Red Mosque students Tuesday when several Chinese women were abducted last month from a massage centre over allegations that they were involved in prostitution.
The students had also issued warnings to the owners of audio and video stores to stop selling "un-Islamic" goods, and had ordered women not to drive.