By DPA
Islamabad : Followers of radical clerics in the Pakistani capital kidnapped three more policemen Monday in retaliation for the arrests of fellow students, bringing the number of their hostages to five.
Scores of stick-wielding students from the Jamia Faridia madrassa affiliated to Islamabad's Lal Masjid abducted the officers in one of the city's most affluent districts, police said.
The students were holding altogether five police officers in a sudden escalation of a lengthy confrontation with the government over their attempts to implement Sharia law in the city.
Authorities Monday responded by deploying large numbers of police and paramilitary troopers around the mosque and its two seminaries.
The government has said it will seek a negotiated solution to the crisis rather than risk a bloody storming operation against the complex run by two brothers.
But pressure is mounting on President Pervez Musharraf to take firm action against the growing militancy in the capital.
Students initially abducted four policemen Friday evening and demanded the release of 11 of their colleagues they said were being held on false charges. Two of the officers were released the next day in an attempted hostage exchange.
But the mosque administration broke off talks after it said over 150 students were taken into custody on Sunday afternoon. Police confirmed the arrests of only 40.
The latest kidnappings came a day after the co-administrator of the Red Mosque, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, reiterated threats to carry out suicide bombings if any forceful action were taken against the complex.
Police originally began arresting students as they pursued an anti-vice campaign in the city, issuing warnings to owners of audio and visual entertainment stores to stop peddling un-Islamic goods.
Earlier, police and paramilitary troops had blocked vehicle access to the mosque and bulldozers were brought up as efforts to end the standoff appeared to fall apart.
Unconfirmed reports said thousands of special police, elite forces and rangers were stood ready for deployment, with many of them gathered at the city sports complex located close to the mosque.
Security forces later pulled back from the radical mosque despite expectations of a storming operation after authorities failed to secure the release of two police officers held hostage inside.
Interior ministry officials apparently decided to negotiate rather than storm the building.
Many Pakistanis view the attempted hostage exchange as a further government climb-down before the clerics, who in recent weeks have taken their hardline interpretation of Islam onto the streets of the capital, harassing store owners and abducting alleged prostitutes under a morality campaign.
More than 10,000 students are enrolled at the mosque's two affiliated madrassas. Automatic weapons are known to be kept on the premises and the clerics have threatened a wave of suicide bombings if action is taken against them.