The Lal Masjid on Saturday threatened forceful retaliation if the government launches an operation against it after President General Pervez Musharraf said it housed suicide bombers.“We have read the statement by Mr Musharraf and we want to warn him that in case of an operation against our mosque and the seminary we will put up a very forceful retaliation,” Abdul Rashid Ghazi, from Islamabad’s Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa madrassa, told AFP. Gen Musharraf said a day earlier that many potential suicide bombers were inside the mosque, and militants linked to extremist groups, including Al Qaeda, were hiding in the mosque with explosives and could cause havoc in the event of an armed operation against them.