Islamabad, Pakistan - Muslim students linked to a radical mosque kidnapped nine people, including six Chinese women, from an alleged brothel in Pakistan's capital on Saturday, freeing them hours later, officials said.
The abductions were the latest act in an anti-vice campaign by students and teachers affiliated with the controversial Red Mosque - a movement that has embarrassed the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and raised concerns about rising religious extremism in Pakistan.
Dozens of students seized the nine people from a massage parlor in an upscale neighborhood of Islamabad, said police official Mohammed Naeem, who said six of the kidnapped were Chinese women.
They were released after about 14 hours, said Abdul Rashid Ghazi, one of two brothers who run the mosque. He accused the abductees of "spreading obscenity" and "running a brothel in the cover of a massage parlor."
Earlier, Maulana Mohammed Ishaq, a cleric at the mosque, said the nine had been taken there to teach them not to indulge in "anti-social activities."
The Interior Ministry called the abductions a "shocking and unlawful act." And Mohammed Ali, the deputy chief of Islamabad's administration, said authorities would take "appropriate action" against those responsible, but did not elaborate.
He confirmed the nine people were released after negotiations with Ghazi.
In January, clerics from the mosque sent female seminary students to occupy a municipal children's library as part of a land dispute with authorities. They raised the stakes further by kidnapping a Pakistani woman they accused of running a brothel in March in what they said was an attempt to impose a harsh interpretation of Islamic law. She was released after three days.
Last month, they seized seven policemen to press for the release of students detained by authorities for threatening the owners of music stores. The officers were released after authorities sent thousands of police into the capital.
Musharraf, a key U.S. ally who says he is guiding Pakistan along a path of "enlightened moderation," has condemned the students' attempt to impose Taliban-style social edicts.
But officials have said that cracking down on the mosque could provoke a bloodbath. The mosque's prayer leader has warned of suicide attacks.