Gunmen Fire On Musharraf’s Plane

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, July 6 — Gunman fired on a plane carrying President Gen. Pervez Musharraf today as the governments siege of a radical mosque in the center of Islamabad continued for a fourth day.

Security officials recovered three large guns from a nearby rooftop in a congested area of Rawalpindi, the site of two previous attempts on Mr. Musharrafs life.

Two antiaircraft guns were found which were not fired, a government statement said. However, shots were fired from a 7.62 sub-machine gun with telescope.

The statement stopped short of confirming that the attack was an assassination attempt. At the moment there does not appear to be any linkage between the incident and the Presidents flight to Turbat, it said. Pakistani officials said the matter was under investigation.

In Islamabad, government officials today rejected a surrender offer by Abdur Rashid Ghazi, the leader of the mosque rebellion, which included a demand that he not be prosecuted. Mr. Ghazi responded with a fiery statement aired on a Pakistani television station.

We will be martyred, but we will not surrender, he said, according to The Associated Press. We are more determined now.

Muhammad Ali Durrani, the Pakistani information minister, urged Mr. Ghazi to surrender and give up arms. This problem can be solved in half an hour if they let the female and children come out, Mr. Durrani said.

Amid the back-and-forth between the militants and government, reports of loud explosions and blasts of gunfire continued this evening around the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque. Army and police commandos have surrounded the complex and barred access since heavy clashes with armed followers on Tuesday.

Syed Kamal Shah, the secretary of Pakistani interior ministry, said at a briefing that 1,221 students had come out of the mosque complex by this evening, including 795 male students and 426 female students. Mr. Shah said the death toll remained at 19. Up to 60 armed militants with automatic weapons, grenades and petrol bombs prevented others from leaving, the interior minister said.

In Rawalpindi, the gunshots at the presidents plane appear to have come from a neighborhood called Asghar Mall. Residents there confirmed hearing a loud bang and firing between 10 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. this morning. It was so loud that we, especially my mother, panicked and thought as if somebody had attacked, said Sheikh Ilyas Goga, 36.

Soon after the firing, two to three men chanting God is great in Arabic escaped on a motorbike, neighbors said.

Pakistani security forces cordoned off the area around the house, which is located on a dead end street. It was recently rented, Mr. Goga said, and neighbors saw bearded men, a woman with two children inside.

President Musharraf arrived safely in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, which has been ravaged by storms and heavy rain.

Salman Masood reported from Rawalpindi and Mike Nizza from New York. Carlotta Gall contributed reporting from Islamabad.

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