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A military official who demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said the women included the wife and daughter of Abdul Aziz, who was arrested while trying to flee the complex last week.

It was not clear how many noncombatants were being held hostage or were staying behind because they believed in the mosque's cause. Last week, a number of those who left the mosque, including young women, said their colleagues were there of their own free will and prepared to die.

Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said hostages were still being held and that fighting was intense: "We are fighting room by room." He added that stun grenades were being used to avoid casualties among the hostages.

He said about 50 militants have been killed in Tuesday's assault, while eight soldiers had died and 29 were wounded.

Abdul Sattar Edhi, head of the private relief agency Edhi Foundation, told reporters that the army had asked him to prepare 400 white shrouds used for covering the dead.

The siege of one of the capital's most prominent mosques was prompted by clashes last Tuesday between security forces and supporters of the mosque's hardline clerics. More than 80 people have been killed in the fighting since July 3.

The vigilante anti-vice campaign has proved an embarrassment to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in its war on terror, and underlined his administration's failure to control extremist religious schools.

But a major loss of life at the Red Mosque could further turn public opinion against the president, who already faces mounting opposition for his bungled attempts to fire the country's chief justice.

To protest the siege, more than 100 armed tribesmen and religious students near the northwestern town of Batagram temporarily blocked a road that leads to neighboring China, police officials said.

And in the eastern city of Multan, more than 500 Islamic religious school students rallied, chanting "Down with Musharraf" and blocking a main road by burning tires.

The U.S. Embassy recommended that Americans in Pakistan to limit their movement in the area of the northwestern city of Peshawar, warning that "terrorist elements" were threatening attacks on Pakistani government, police and army institutions in retaliation for the Red Mosque siege.

The army raid began about 4 a.m. after a government-backed effort led by ex-premier Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to try and negotiate a peaceful end to the standoff failed. One cleric in the mediation team, Rehmatullah Khalil, accused Musharraf of sabotaging a draft agreement with the mosque's chief cleric, which the government denied.

Soon after the mediators left the environs of the mosque, commandos attacked from three directions and quickly cleared the ground floor of the mosque, Arshad said. Some 20 children who rushed toward the advancing troops were brought to safety, he said.

Besides the women, Arshad said about 50 suspected militants, some of them youngsters, have been captured or emerged from the mosque since fighting began Tuesday.

Arshad said the army attack was now focused on the women's school. He said the entire compound included 75 rooms, large basements and expansive courtyards. About 80 percent of it had been cleared, he said.

An officer, who demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said troops had demanded four times that Ghazi surrender, but his followers responded with gunfire. Ghazi said he was ready to die rather than give up, the officer said.

Arshad said the well-trained militants were armed with machine guns, rocket launchers and gasoline bombs and had booby-trapped some areas.

Pakistan's Religious Affairs Minister Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq said foreign militants were among those fighting with the mosque defenders, quoting Ghazi.

Ghazi told the private Geo TV network in a telephone interview about two hours after Tuesday's assault began that his mother had been wounded by gunshot. One of Ghazi's aides, Abdul Rahman, later said she had died.

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