A week-long standoff between Islamic militants and Pakistan's security forces ended with the storming of Islamabad's Red Mosque and the death of its top cleric.
Military commandos backed by paramilitary fighters stormed the mosque before dawn on Tuesday.
Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the mosque's chief cleric, was among the dead, along with about 50 of his followers. Eight soldiers died and another 29 were wounded.
Officials wouldn't estimate how many people were inside Tuesday night, but the Associated Press reported that a local relief agency had said the army requested 400 white funeral shrouds.
There were small demonstrations around the country of 147 million in support of the extremists. Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, a coalition of hard-line Islamic parties, announced three days of mourning in the North West Frontier Province to protest the government's attack.
The death of Ghazi could provoke a "violent outburst," said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a political science professor in Lahore.
Benazir Bhutto, a former prime minister and political rival of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, felt there was a risk of that.
However, she said the president made the right decision in storming the mosque.
"The government of Pakistan has proceeded in a responsible way," U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. "All governments have a responsibility to preserve order."
One expert doubted the showdown would weaken Musharraf's grip on Pakistan.
"For Musharraf to maintain control of the country, he has to have the backing of the power elite -- which he does. He has to have the backing of the military, which he absolutely has done," said Sunil Ram of American Military University.
He didn't think this crackdown will provide any relief for Canadian soldiers, whose Taliban opponents can retreat to the Pakistan border area.
"What (Musharraf) can now say is 'I can't deal with the Taliban issue'," Ram said. "'I can't run operations in the border region because I have to deal with the internal issues of the country'."
The beginning
Ghazi, 43, started off as a relatively moderate cleric, but became radicalized by the murder of his cleric father in 1998. He took an even harder line with Musharraf after the president decided to support the U.S. "war on terror" in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
The Red Mosque, or Lal Masjid, is well known for its support of the Taliban in Afghanistan and has been a militant hub for years.
His mosque started to challenge the government by running a very strict, Islamic morality campaign. Radicalized students would abduct alleged prostitutes and bring them back to the mosque for re-education.
The trouble really started when Ghazi's followers traded gunfire with security forces on July 3.
Talks broke down Monday night.
"We have done everything which was possible at the end of the government and we are really disappointed," said Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, a government negotiator.
Ghazi had said earlier he would rather die than give himself up.
Upwards of 50 women were freed by the militants, and 26 children reportedly escaped safely from the compound.
With a report from CTV's Robert Fife and files from The Associated Press
