Islamabad, Pakistan - The Pakistani military said today that it had destroyed a religious school used for training militants in Bajur tribal area straddling the border with Afghanistan. More than 83 people are thought to have been killed in the military operation, local television news channels reported, but no official confirmation was immediately available.
The strike, involving helicopter gunships, started at around 5 a.m. today, military officials said. The target was a religious school, known as a madrassa, run by a local cleric, Maulvi Liaqut. Mr. Liaqut was also reportedly killed, according to local media.
Mr. Liaqut had been accused of harboring local and foreign militants. He had been a member of the defunct militant movement Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi, which had sent thousands of tribal fighters into Afghanistan to support the Taliban before being banned in 2002 by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
"We received confirmed intelligence reports that 70-80 militants were hiding in a madrassa used as a terrorist-training facility, which was destroyed by an army strike, led by helicopters," Maj. General Shaukat Sultan, a spokesperson for Pakistani military, said, according to The Associated Press.
General Sultan said that no "high value target'' was present during the raid, referring to al Qaeda or Taliban leaders. General Sultan also stressed that no children or women were present inside the madrassa and denied any involvement by U.S or NATO troops.
After the attack, helicopters were reported hovering over the area. Telecommunication links were also reported to be suspended, according to local news media.
The madrassa was located in Khar, the main town in the tribal region of Bajur, one of the semiautonomous tribal areas in northwestern Pakistan that have long been considered safe havens for Taliban and Al Qaeda remnants.
Bajur, which borders Afghan province of Kunar, has a history of troubled militancy. It was the scene of a widely unpopular American military strike in January, when al Qaeda's number two leader, Aiman al-Zawahiri, was the target. Mr. Zawahiri was not present at the time of the attack but at least 18 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attack. Subsequently, nationwide protests were held against the United States and President Musharraf.
Suspected Taliban rebels shot down a Chinook helicopter, killing 16 American servicemen, in Kunar, Afghanistan, not far from Bajur, in June 2005.
President Musharraf has sent more than 80,000 troops to the tribal areas alongside the Afghan border to flush out Taliban members.
NATO and Afghan officials have repeatedly blamed Taliban who have found refuge in Pakistan for attacks inside Afghanistan.
Today's military strike came two days after thousands of tribal militants staged a protest rally in Bajur and vowed to continue their opposition to the United States and its Pakistani supporters. Faqir Mohammad, a local tribal leader, had told the protesters that they would continue their jihad against America and its allies, according to the Associated Press, calling supporters of America their enemy.
Soon after today's attack signs of a political backlash emerged. Siraj ul Haq, a senior minister in the provincial cabinet, and Haroon-ur- Rashid, a member of the parliament, condemned the strike and announced plans to resign, a local television station reported.