By Xinhua
Islamabad : Some 20 children escaped from the compound of a radical mosque here Tuesday during heavy firing between holed-up militants and security forces, the military said.
"Twenty children have managed to escape during the fire. An intense engagement is going on with the militants," said military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad.
A major operation was launched early Tuesday after failed negotiations overnight between authorities and the defiant militants holed-up inside the mosque, the military said.
Children running out of the mosque are with the troops now, local TV quoted the military as saying.
Hard-line cleric and the leader of the militants Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who is still inside the mosque, claimed that his mother was killed in the operation.
Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League PML (Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat, who talked with Ghazi on behalf of the government, said that the talks failed and that he was disappointed.
Shujaat told the reporters that Ghazi wanted delay in talks, adding, "We tried our best but Ghazi laid more conditions."