ISLAMABAD, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistan's Red Mosque reopened on Wednesday nearly three months after a bloody military raid, with its deposed head urging thousands of supporters to continue his struggle for Islamic sharia law.

Around 5,000 people packed the mosque in central Islamabad to hear a recorded message by radical cleric Abdul Aziz, who was captured in July while trying to flee the building while dressed in a woman's burqa.

ISLAMABAD, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistani authorities will Wednesday reopen Islambad's Red Mosque on the orders of the Supreme Court, officials here said, three months it was closed in the wake of a blood-soaked army operation.

Government troops stormed the radical mosque on July 10 after besieging Al-Al Qaeda militants holed up inside the building and a neighbouring girls' Islamic school, leaving more than 100 people dead.

COLOGNE, Germany, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) - Plans to build one of the biggest mosques in Europe here have Christian leaders and the far-right up in arms over the Muslim community's bold new assertion of its presence in Germany.

An imposing but elegant new building is to go up in the Ehrenfeld district of Cologne, a city that is 12 percent Muslim but is best known for its spectacular Gothic cathedral.

Currently, most Muslims pray in small, often shabby quarters spread throughout the city and often hidden from plain view.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 29, 2007 (AFP) - Pro-Taliban militants have occupied a mosque in a Pakistani tribal area and named it after the radical Red Mosque where more than 100 people died in clashes between militants and security forces, residents said Sunday.

Around 150 armed masked men late Saturday took control of Turangzai Sahib Mosque in Lakaro village in the lawless Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan, some 60 kilometres (37 miles) northwest of Peshawar, and renamed it the Red Mosque, they said.

BERLIN, July 29, 2007 (AFP) - Exiled former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto warned of a looming Islamist revolution mounted from the country's religious schools, or madrassas, in a German magazine interview to be published Monday.

Bhutto said she was planning her return to Pakistan this year to help stabilise the country in the face of the extremist threat.

'The Red Mosque was just a warm-up for what will happen if the religious schools are not disarmed,' Bhutto told the newsweekly Focus.

ISLAMABAD, July 28, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistan boosted security on Saturday fearing further attacks a day after a suicide bombing during protests at Islamabad's pro-Taliban Red Mosque killed 14 people.

Authorities were also investigating how the attacker was able to strike at a crowded market in the heart of the capital, the 13th suicide blast to hit the country since a bloody army raid on the mosque on July 10.

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - A suicide bomber targeting policemen killed 14 people near the Red Mosque in the Pakistani capital Friday, as the reopening of the complex after this month's bloody army raid descended into violence.

The attack came as pro-Taliban students occupied the mosque in the heart of Islamabad during Friday prayers, sparking clashes with security forces. The radicals were cleared from the building after the blast.

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - A suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of policemen near the Red Mosque in the Pakistani capital on Friday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 30 others, a security official said.

'A man detonated explosives strapped to his body among two rows of Punjab police constabulary members who were there on duty because of the unrest at the Red Mosque,' the security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - A suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of policemen near the Red Mosque in the Pakistani capital on Friday, killing at least 10 people and wounding many others, a security official said.

'A man detonated explosives strapped to his body among two rows of Punjab police constabulary members who were there on duty because of the unrest at the Red Mosque,' the security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

'At least ten people have been killed and many wounded.'

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - A loud blast was heard Friday near Pakistan's Red Mosque and ambulances were rushing towards the scene, AFP correspondents said.

Blood and pieces of flesh were strewn at the site of the blast, close to one of the main markets in Islamabad, a correspondent said. Officials said the cause was not yet known.

The site was where police officers earlier gathered during clashes with radical Islamic students who occupied the Red Mosque after its official reopening.

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - Hundreds of Islamists occupied Pakistan's Red Mosque Friday, painting the walls their original colour and clashing with police as the official reopening after an army assault descended into chaos.

Hardliners at the Islamabad complex hurled rocks at armoured police vehicles and officers in riot gear, injuring two policemen, officials said. Police fired teargas at the mostly bearded demonstrators and arrested six people.

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistani police Friday fired tear gas at stone-throwing Islamist protesters who occupied the capital's Red Mosque during its official reopening following a deadly army operation.

Police in armoured riot vehicles launched tear gas shells at hardliners who spilled out of the mosque in the heart of the leafy capital, an AFP reporter witnessed.

Authorities had warned them earlier to leave the area.

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - Hundreds of Islamists occupied Pakistan's Red Mosque on Friday, painting the walls in their original colour and wrecking the official reopening of the complex after a bloody army assault on militants.

Protesters chased out a government-appointed religious elder who was meant to lead the first Friday prayers at the Islamabad mosque since the military operation there earlier this month that left more than 100 people dead.

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - Islamists occupied Pakistan's Red Mosque and began repainting its walls in their original colour after it reopened following this month's bloody army raid, an AFP reporter and police said.

Hundreds of protesters, formerly students at the hardline Islamabad mosque, took control of the building during Friday prayers after chasing out a government-appointed preacher and police.

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - Angry Muslims chased a government-appointed religious leader from Pakistan's Red Mosque after it reopened for Friday prayers, just over two weeks after a deadly army raid on Islamic militants.

Hundreds of former students from the Islamabad mosque -- which has been repainted in peach and beige since the bloodshed -- called for the return of its arrested cleric and chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf.

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - Angry Muslims chased a government-appointed religious leader from Pakistan's Red Mosque after it reopened for Friday prayers just over two weeks after a deadly army raid on Islamic militants.

Hundreds of former students from the Islamabad mosque chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf and also pushed journalists out of the building, which has been repainted a peach colour, police said.

ISLAMABAD, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistan reopened Islamabad's Red Mosque for prayers on Friday with a new coat of peach-coloured paint, three weeks after a devastating army assault against militants there left scores dead.

Workers have plastered over bullet holes in the walls and repaired craters in the minarets at the formerly pro-Taliban place of worship, whose colour has been overhauled after 40 years, but whose name remains unchanged.

ISLAMABAD, July 23, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistan will demolish a battle-scarred Islamic girls` school in Islamabad`s Red Mosque compound, where an army raid earlier this month left scores dead, officials said Monday.

The Red Mosque itself was being renovated and 'we hope to re-open it on Friday' in time for traditional Islamic prayers, said city official Kamran Lashari. Reports have said the mosque will be repainted green.

ISLAMABAD, July 22, 2007 (AFP) - Pakistani authorities on Sunday discovered an unidentified body and an assault rifle at Islamabad`s Red Mosque -- a week and a half after a deadly army assault on militants holed up inside.

The body was found in the basement of the sprawling compound as government labourers carried out repairs following the bloody July 10-11 assault, which the army previously said killed 11 soldiers and 75 people inside the mosque.