Cleric captured in a Burqa as 1,000 surrender at mosque

The chief cleric of a radical mosque in Islamabad was arrested and more than 1,000 of his followers surrendered today as troops backed by armoured vehicles and helicopters tightened their siege of the complex, officials said.

Female police officers searching women fleeing the mosque’s seminary discovered Maulana Abdul Aziz under a black head-to-toe veil, said Khalid Pervez, the city’s top administrator.