ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: Law-enforcement agencies personnel raided the Lal Mosque and its seminary here on Tuesday and searched it for the Imam and his brother for their alleged links with the Al Qaeda network and issuing a fatwa against the army and the ongoing operation in Wana , said Deputy Commissioner Tariq Mehmood Pirzada.

A heavy contingent of police barged into the mosque in the wee hours of Tuesday and searched it for the two brothers. The police also entered the girls section of the seminary on the premises of the mosque.

It appears that both Maulana Abdul Aziz and his brother Maulana Ghazi Abdul Rashid had escaped before the raid. The seminary students held a protest demonstration after the raid. They blocked the road outside the madressah. They carried sticks and chanted slogans against the government and the local administration.

Later, they dispersed peacefully while the police remained around the mosque. "We have evidence that the Ghazi brothers have links with Al Qaeda," the deputy commissioner said.

Recently, Maulana Aziz and 10 other Muftis had issued a fatwa, declaring that the army officials killed in the Wana operation were not martyrs. A source said that the action against the two brothers was taken on the directives of President General Pervez Musharraf.

A case has been registered against the Ghazi brothers and other ulema at the Aabpara police station for violating section 144 CrPC, offering resistance to the police and staging a demonstration. Maulana Aziz was wanted to the police in a case registered against him under 16-MPO on March 23, 2004.