Pakistani authorities say at least 11 people have been killed and dozens wounded in an explosion near Pakistan's radical Red Mosque in Islamabad.
Police say they believe a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a hotel restaurant near the complex today , shortly after hundreds of Islamic students clashed with security forces at the mosque. Police are among the dead.
Earlier, former students at the mosque threw stones at police, who responded with tear gas. Angry protesters also chased away a cleric chosen by the government to lead Friday prayers. They splashed red paint on the compound's walls and raised
black flags from its minarets.
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao says the government will not allow demonstrators to take the law into their own hands.
The government reopened the mosque Thursday, nearly two weeks after a deadly raid on the compound.
The protesters are demanding the return of the mosque's former chief cleric - Abdul Aziz - who is in government custody.
More than 100 people, including a top radical cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, died during an eight-day siege of the mosque compound.
Radical clerics had used the school's students in an aggressive campaign to impose strict Islamic law in Pakistan.
Information for this report is provided by AP and AFP.
