Gunfire and explosions rang across Islamabad early this morning, as Pakistani troops completed the task they began a week ago. Militants, supposedly with links to terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda, were defeated and the Red Mosque, which they had used as a fortress, was liberated. Fifty militants were killed in the fighting, which also claimed the lives of eight Pakistani soldiers. Approximately forty militants surrendered. The Pakistani soldiers began their assault after suspicions that the militants had taken 150 people, including women and children, hostage. The siege occured in a city already rife with discord, as the unsettled populace have taken to assaulting police officers and those who are not seen as "Islamic". It is believed that the militants, led by radical imam Abdul Rashid Ghazl, hoped to spark an Islamic revolution across the country.