Up to 80 Killed in Attack on Religious School in Pakistan

Up to 80 people were killed this morning in Pakistan’s Bajaur region, which borders Afghanistan, when a seminary was attacked with missiles. Reported to be among the dead is Maulana Liaquat, who ran the religious school and was one of the leaders of a pro-Taliban organization of Pakistani tribal clerics. Villagers said most of the others killed were students ages 15- to 25-years-old. Today’s attack comes on the day that pro-Taliban militants were scheduled to ink a peace agreement with the government of Pakistan, in which the militant tribal groups would have agreed not to shelter foreign refugees and not to cross the border into Afghanistan. Some of the dead from today’s attack are reportedly Afghans. THE BLOTTER RECOMMENDS Zawahiri Message Circulating in Pakistan Brian Ross Investigates Webcast Osama bin Laden’s Winter ‘Oasis’ Click Here to Ask Brian Ross a Question The pro-Taliban organization, called Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM), is headed up by Maulana Faqir Mohammad, who is wanted by Pakistani authorities for allegedly sheltering al Qaeda- and Taliban-linked foreign militants. He was not at the school at the time of the bombing, but later showed up at the scene and made a speech blaming the United States for organizing the attack and killing innocent madrassa students. He also accused the Pakistani government of helping the U.S. launch the attack.

Eyewitnesses to today’s attack said two missiles were fired from an unmanned Predator plane at around 5:00 a.m. local time. They said the drone had been flying overhead all night.

The Pakistani military, however, has said it was their helicopters, not a U.S. drone, that fired the missiles.

Villagers said they have recovered around 80 bodies so far. "The bodies were burnt. Pieces of flesh were strewn all over the place. Rescuers were picking up body parts from here and there," said Mushtaq Khan, a journalist who was at the scene.

The village where the seminary was located is just a few miles from Damadola, where a U.S. missile attack in January killed 13 people. That attack was ordered following reports that al Qaeda top deputy Ayman al Zawahiri was visiting the village to dine with local tribal militants.