US carried out bombing

Remember that bombing last month of a Pakistani madrasah that killed 82 students. At the time I blogged a 'please explain' from Pakistan as the bombing didn't seem to make any sense and led to massive anti-government rallies in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Why bomb a madrasah in an area you need to build support in? None of it made sense - until now. It's being reported in the Times that the Pakistani's DIDN'T bomb the madrasah last month - the American's did!

US carried out madrasah bombing
THE bombing of a Pakistani madrasah last month, in which 82 students were killed, was carried out by the United States, a Pakistani official has admitted.

The madrasah in the tribal agency of Bajaur was bombed during a visit to Pakistan by the Prince of Wales amid allegations that it was being used to train suicide bombers.

“We thought it would be less damaging if we said we did it rather than the US,” said a key aide to President Pervez Musharraf. “But there was a lot of collateral damage and we’ve requested the Americans not to do it again.”

The Americans are believed to have attacked after a tip-off that Ayman al-Zawahiri, the deputy leader of Al-Qaeda, was present. Local people claimed the victims included boys as young as 12 and that the tribal area had been negotiating with the Pakistan government for a peace deal.

Pakistani officials insist they were shown satellite images of people training and have checked the identity cards of all those killed, and that all were adults.