Bajur attack was a pre-emptive strike: Security officials

Islamabad, Nov 1 (UNI) The attack on a religious seminary in Pakistan's tribal region of Bajur Agency, which claimed around 80 lives, was a ''pre-emptive'' strike to prevent militants being trained there, according to security officials.

The militants were actually undergoing training when the operation began at 0430 hrs on Monday, The Daily Times quoted the security officials as saying.

The madrasa was the only one that had not been closed after the educational session ended with Ramazan, and this was a ''concrete evidence'' that it was a training camp for militants, they said.

The al-Qaeda trainers might have been in the compound at the time of the operation, they added.

''Eyewitnesses saw a US Predator drone firing three missiles at the madrassa casting doubts on the government's claim that the airstrike was carried out solely by the Pakistani military,'' the paper quoted report by news analysis service Stratfor.

The report says the airstrike could have been meant ''to kill al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri'', but Pakistani security officials told mediapersons here that Zawahiri was not in the madrassa at the time of the raid, though he had visited it in the past.

The newspaper also reported that Maulana Mohammad Saddiq, a representative from Bajaur Agency, resigned from the National Assembly yesterday in protest.

Member of National Assembly Sahibzada Haroonur Rashid was the first to tender his resignation in protest.

Mr Saddiq resigned following the demand of protesting tribesmen in the Agency. He said he had sent his resignation to the Jamaat-e-Islami chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmad with the request to pass it on to the National Assembly speaker.

''We cannot remain silent over this barbaric incident,'' he told the protesting tribesmen.

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