I just got back from hiking in the hills. While going up, we started hearing gunshots at around 6:15pm which continued for about half an hour. At about 6:45pm, there were sounds of large explosions and highly intense firing. We couldn’t see anything until this time, even from that height, but soon after the explosions there was lots of white smoke from the area around Lal Masjid (Red Mosque).
Still nothing in the online news, but with that amount of gunfire and explosions, things are likely to end soon. I heard that the people inside are refusing to surrender and that the security forces are instructed to complete their operations by the end of the day, so it won’t be a clean sweep, though I hope that the end is decisive and rids us of this extremist threat once and for all. Will try to keep you posted.