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Mosque leader in burqa ....
The leader of a radical mosque besieged by Pakistani security forces in Islamabad has been caught trying to escape wearing a woman's burqa.
Security forces seized Maulana Abdul Aziz as he tried to leave the Red Mosque amid a crowd of women.
The mosque is surrounded by Pakistani troops after gun battles with armed students killed 16 on Tuesday. They have been told to give themselves up.
Clerics at the mosque are campaigning for Islamic Sharia law to be enforced.
The deputy commissioner of police in Islamabad, Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, described how the cleric tried to escape wearing the all-enveloping dress worn by Muslim women.
"The maulana came out of the mosque with a group of girls wearing a burqa and carrying a handbag. The girls protested when he was stopped. But officers were suspicious and after a search, Maulana Abdul Aziz was identified and arrested," he told the BBC.
Another security official told AFP that the cleric had been picked out because of his "unusual demeanour".
"The rest of the girls looked like girls, but he was taller and had a pot belly," the official said.
Abdul Aziz was captured as more than 700 of his followers surrendered to government forces.
They only want martyrdom - they don't want to go home
Maryam Qayyeum, 15
Student leaving mosque
As news of the arrest filtered through, a small group of his supporters gathered outside the cordoned-off area to protest.
Female students who were let out were being allowed to go home, while male students were being held and searched.
The authorities have extended the deadline for students to surrender.
They say they want to allow as many as possible to leave peacefully, but they also say they are prepared for force, says the BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad.
Security officials estimate that eventually a hard core of several hundred militants will be left, but it is not clear whether the arrest of Abdul Aziz will help to resolve the situation, our correspondent says.
Abdul Aziz runs the mosque with his brother, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who is believed to be still inside, along with other remaining militants.
Curfew
Earlier, troops in armoured personnel carriers surrounded the mosque as helicopter gunships circled overhead and gunfire was heard.
Several thousand people remain inside the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) complex, and many of them are young students at a girls' school.
In addition to the 16 people killed during Tuesday's violence, more than 140 people were hurt, officials said.
Troops sealed off the area around the mosque after Tuesday's clashes and no-one is able to get within about one kilometre of the site.
At daybreak, soldiers strung barbed wire across streets near the mosque, where armed students have barricaded themselves in.
An indefinite curfew is in place around the Red Mosque, and power and water supplies have been cut off.
Those inside have been ordered to give up their weapons, although officials have said they do not want more bloodshed.
Clerics, acting as intermediaries, held overnight talks with both sides, but there has been no sign of a breakthrough.
At least two deadlines set by the government for students to surrender have passed.
The government has said women and children can go free - with offers of money and safe passage - but top mosque leaders and males involved in killings and other crimes will face prosecution.
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"The pen is mightier than the sword, but, The sword guarantees ownership of the pen"
"The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer."
-Teddy Roosevelt-
-Rosebud 5-9-6-
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