ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN, JULY 04, SPA -- Curfew has been clamped in the limited area around the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, Islamabad, with troops given shoot-on-sight orders as the death toll in Tuesday's gun battles between extremists and security personnel rose to 16, officials said. The deadline given to the radical clerics, Maulana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdur Rashid Ghazi, and their followers to surrender and lay down arms expired at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Announcements to surrender and about the deadline were made by police on megaphones near the hot spot. Pakistan Military spokesman Maj-Gen Arshad Waheed said the operation against the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa is being carried out by police and Rangers personnel with Pak army on standby. The first deadline is over and the operation time cannot be ascertained for the time being, he said, adding that whenever the army is called for an operation, it comes fully prepared to face any emergency situation. The decision to impose curfew was announced by Minister of State for Interior Zafar Iqbal Warraich and Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani at a joint news conference at 2 a.m. Wednesday after a series of high-level meetings. One of them was chaired by President General Pervez Musharraf.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/464646