Al Qaeda's number two leader has apparently issued a video calling for Pakistanis to join a holy war in revenge for the attack on the Red Mosque.
Ayman al-Zawahri's four-minute address released Wednesday was entitled "The Aggression against Lal Masjid."
The video dealt entirely with the conflict at the Islamabad mosque between radical Islamic students and government security forces.
As-Sahab, al Qaeda's multimedia branch, released the video. The video's authenticity couldn't be immediately confirmed.
In neighbouring Afghanistan, a senior Taliban commander urged Muslims to launch suicide attacks on Pakistani security forces, calling the assault "a cruel act."
"I would have sent 10,000 mujahedeen to support the (Red Mosque) students but we are busy in Afghanistan and Islamabad is far from Afghanistan," Mansoor Dadullah told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Protests have popped up in Taliban-friendly parts of Pakistan against President Pervez Musharraf over the attack on the mosque. However, some of his mainstream political opponents have endorsed the decision.
Mosque cleared
Pakistani forces have finally cleared the warren-like Red Mosque of all militants, ending the bloody eight-day siege and street battles that have left more than 80 dead.
Army spokesman Maj.-Gen. Washeed Arshad declared what he called the first phase of the operation over, saying there were no more militants left inside the Islamabad complex.
The official said the mosque compound was still being searched for mines, booby traps and other weaponry.
Pakistani commandos killed three of the remaining defenders overnight after assaulting the compound and killing its pro-Taliban cleric.
More than 50 militants and 10 soldiers were killed in the final assault that began in the early hours of Tuesday, including the mosque's pro-Taliban cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the army said.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said no bodies of women and children had been found inside the mosque, adding the probability of such a discovery was low.
"The major group of women was all together and came out all together," Aziz said, referring to 27 women and three children who emerged from the mosque on Tuesday.
Pakistani forces went in after unsuccessful attempts to get the mosque's militants to surrender to a weeklong siege mounted by the government following deadly street clashes with armed supporters of the mosque on July 3.
Militant hub
The mosque is well known for its support of the Taliban in Afghanistan and has been a militant hub for years.
The extremists had been using the mosque as a base to send out radicalized students to enforce their version of Islamic morality, including abducting alleged prostitutes and trying to "re-educate" them at the compound.
Explosions and gunfire at the mosque complex, which includes a women's religious school, ceased early Wednesday afternoon, some 35 hours after the assault began.
Commandos had moved from room to room in basements of the compound, blowing out foxholes where holdouts had been stationed. The three militants killed Tuesday night were trapped in foxholes, an army officer said.
Relatives of young women, men and children who had been inside, waited behind army barricades around the mosque or inquired at morgues on Wednesday.
Ghazi's body was found in the basement of a women's religious school after a fierce gun battle involving militants, said a senior Interior Ministry official.
Security officials said Ghazi was wounded by two bullets and gave no response when ordered to surrender. Commandos then fired another volley and found him dead.
Elite troops had stormed the sprawling compound after negotiations with the mosque's leaders failed. Gunfire and explosions thundered over the city while "Operation Silence," as it was code-named, continued through the night and into Wednesday.
With files from the Associated Press
