What must Sunday School be like in places like this?
NYT on the siege of the Red Mosque, a particularly well-armed place of worship:
After 10 hours of fighting, 8 security forces and roughly 50 presumed militants were dead, according to the military. Roughly two dozen children, whom the army said were being held hostage, escaped.
Another 29 troops and special forces were injured, the military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, told reporters at a press briefing near the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque. The spokesman said 50 men and 27 women had been captured, including 13 who were wounded in the battles. Among them were the wife and daughter of one of the main leaders of the mosque.
The assault on the mosque began before daybreak, around 4:30 am, just hours after talks broke down to end the eight day siege of the mosque. A series of deafening explosions were followed by a black plume of smoke rising to the sky. Throughout the day, explosions were followed by the rattle of small arms fire and by early afternoon, heavy bursts of machine gun fire. General Arshad said the militants’ arsenal includes rocket launchers, grenades, landmines, and booby traps to foil troops trying to enter the compound. The militants, whom government officials described as being led by known radical Islamist groups, were using the minarets of the mosque to fire at the security forces.
The “arsenal includes rocket launchers, grenades, landmines, and booby traps.” And these weren’t even infidels that they were up against. What might they do to someone they really disliked?