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Four Killed in Pakistani Anti-U.S. Protests
ISLAMABAD, Nov 9 (News Agencies) - Police killed four demonstrators in a gunbattle during anti-U.S. protests Friday, but a nationwide strike call failed to rally mainstream Pakistanis against the war in Afghanistan, officials said.
Demonstrations across the country were smaller than the protesting Islamic groups had sought as President Pervez Musharraf's government clamped down on opposition with sweeping pre-emptive arrests of alleged troublemakers.
But there were still violent scenes in most major cities as small groups of determined protesters took to the streets on the Muslim holy day.
In the worst incident, four activists were killed and six wounded when police and demonstrators exchanged fire after protesters took over a major highway and railway in response to the strike call by pro-Taliban parties.
Demonstrators briefly took four policemen hostage, sparking a gunbattle after tear gas and baton charges failed to secure their release, police said.
A police official said 5,000 members of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) party and other Islamist groups, some armed with automatic rifles, stopped and burned a prison van before taking the police officers hostage.
Demonstrators then blocked the Indus highway and nearby railway at Shahdan Lund, some 360 miles southwest of Islamabad.
Boulders were laid across the tracks to stop the Chiltan express from Lahore to Quetta early in the morning. Hundreds of men still sat on the tracks in the early evening, police said.
"We had planned a peaceful protest, but police resorted to firing as part of the government's brutal policy aimed at appeasing the United States," said JUI secretary general Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.
"Our movement against American terrorism in Afghanistan will continue. Our protest will continue until the government of Pakistan changes its policy or Musharraf is toppled."
An interior ministry official said more than 550 religious activists were detained across the nation in overnight raids to avert unrest after Friday prayers in mosques.
Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said the more hardline Islamic parties had failed to challenge the military government or win the support of ordinary Pakistanis.
"The people of Pakistan are tired of extremist politics. They want peace," he said.
In the northwestern city of Peshawar, police fired teargas and baton charged some 200 stone-throwing demonstrators. Similar disturbances were reported in Lahore and several areas of Karachi, the country's biggest city.
Religious parties have strongly opposed the U.S. air raids in neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan's support for the campaign.
President Musharraf, who is abroad on a diplomatic tour that will take him to the United States, told European leaders this week that Pakistan would back the military action against the Taliban until its objectives are met.
Speaking at a press conference in London on Thursday, Musharraf said there was no threat to his government, "otherwise I would not be sitting here." He is to speak at the U.N. General Assembly and meet U.S. President George W. Bush on Saturday.
"Ours has been a very tolerant government. We believe in full freedom of expression and we lay value on democracy," said the army general, who took power in an October 1999 coup.
But he added: "We cannot act as silent spectators nor would the people like us to be bystanders.
"We shall employ all that is required to keep Pakistan peaceful, stable and secure."
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