Pakistani forces bomb madrassa: spokesman
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Islamabad, Oct 30, IRNA
Pakistan-School-Attack
Pakistan security forces bombed a religious seminary, which the army says was being used to train militants, in the country's tribal region in a pre-dawn attack on Monday, the military said.
There were casualties as between 70 to 80 people were present at the madrassa when the security forces conducted their operation at 5 am, army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said.
However, he did not give details as to the number of casualties.
But a private TV channel, Aaj, today put the figure at 30. There was no official confirmation of this figure.
Sultan said that the religious school, located north of Khar, the headquarters of Bajur tribal agency, was being used for wrong activities.
Helicopter gunships were used and most of the targets were eliminated, the spokesman said.
The attack was launched after confirmed information was received that the inmates were involved in terrorist training, Sultan said.
He added that the seminary was being observed for a few days.
The operation was successful, he said.
This is the second major attack on Bajur in less than a year.
Locals said that the targeted madrassa was owned by a local leader of the banned group Tanzeem Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi (TSNM).
In January, the US launched a missile strike on a village in the Bajur area in an effort to kill Al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The strike killed 18 people but Pakistani officials said Zawahiri was not among the dead.
The attack occurred two days after a huge anti-US demonstration in Bajur, which borders Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province.
The demonstrators chanted slogans in favor of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban's Mulla Mohammed Omar.
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