Pakistani Strike on Madrassah Near Pakistan

Pakistani gunships attacked an Islamic school in Bajaur agency near the border with Afghanistan, acting on American intelligence that Al Qaeda figures were hiding in what is being called an "Al Qaeda training camp." It was also the home of strident Afghan and Pakistani Taliban supporters. However, some reports state that no "high-value targets" - Taliban or Al Qaeda members - were at the madrassah at the time.

Pakistani Islamists and "independent tribal sources" say that American helicopters attacked the school, but both American and Pakistani sources deny this.

The attack was said to have killed close to 80 and to have flattened the school.

One outcome of the attack could be a break between Pervez Musharraf and the Islamists he has worked with in an uneasy coalition. Some worry that Musharraf is losing control over Pakistan's Islamists, and thereby losing control of Pakistan. Pakistan's Taliban-supporting tribesmen are protesting, and the full outcome of those protests is still unknown.