ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army on Monday said it had killed up to 80 militants in an early morning strike on a pro-Taliban madrasa in a tribal area near the Afghan border.

The military action sparked protests in the area, and in the neighbouring North-West Frontier Province, where a Minister belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islami resigned. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, religious coalition that rules the province, announced it would organise nation-wide protests on Tuesday. Qazi Hussein Ahmed, leader of JI and the MMA, rubbished the military claim that the madrasa was harbouring militants and said a number of children were among the dead. The Army had acted under pressure from the U.S., he alleged.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman denied this charge. "It has nothing to do with any influence or pressure [from the U.S]. It is something we have been doing for peace and security in the region," she said. The madrasa in Bajaur agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas was a training facility for militants run by a pro-Taliban commander, Maulvi Liaquat, said Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations Major-General Shaukat Sultan at a briefing.

He said the military had given warnings to the madrassa, located in Chenagai, about 10 km north of the main Bajaur town of Khar, to "close down the facility" but "they failed to do so."

Helicopter gunships fired missiles into the madrasa at about 5 am. Maj-Gen Sultan said the strike destroyed "majority of the facility" and killed most of people inside, including Maulvi Liaquat. The maulvi is said to have had links with the top Al-Qaeda leadership.

Protest march

He confirmed that foreigners were among those killed, but said there were no high-value Al-Qaeda suspects in the madrasa. No women or children were killed, Maj-Gen Sultan said. The madrasa was in an isolated area and there were no houses nearby and therefore, no chance of collateral damage. But media reports quoted local residents of the area saying there were children who were students at the madrasa among the dead. Television footage showed sheet-covered bodies laid out on rows of cots. According to some reports, local people took out a protest march in Khar.

Bajaur, one of the seven agencies of FATA, is said to be a pro-Taliban stronghold. Last week, nearly 5,000 Taliban sympathisers are reported to have held a rally against the U.S. in Damadola, another town in Bajaur where a U.S. drone fired a missile in March this year, aiming to kill the Al- Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri. However, Zawahiri was not present at the time of the attack. The Pakistan government was trying to organise a tribal jirga in the agency to arrive at an agreement with the locals along the lines of the deals it has struck in North and South Waziristan.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail