The Pakistan army has carried out an attack on a compound thought to be used by al-Qaeda, claiming that up to 80 people were killed in the strike.

Attack helicopters destroyed the school compound in the village of Chingai before dawn on Monday, according to the Pakistani military.

The military said the site was away from other buildings in the North West Frontier province.

"We received confirmed intelligence reports that 70 to 80 militants were hiding in a madrasa [school] used as a terrorist-training facility, which was destroyed by an army strike, led by helicopters," spokesman Shaukat Sultan said.

"According to our local sources, up to 80 deaths have been confirmed," he said.

Sultan said there was no collateral damage, but Chingai's residents were seen collecting bodies of children from the rubble.

A local reporter told the Reuters news agency: "The bodies are beyond recognition. They are badly mutilated. Limbs were being collected by local people in cloth sheets."

A senior security official said Maulana Liaqatullah, a local religious leader who owned the school, was killed in the raid on the compound 10km north of Khar, the main town in the Bajaur tribal region.

Liaqatullah was wanted by the authorities for providing sanctuary to al-Qaeda members.

Siraj ul-Haq, a cabinet minister from the province, condemned the attack. He said he would resign from the government in protest.

"The government has launched an attack during the night, which is against Islam and the traditions of the area," he said during a funeral of one of the dead.

"They [the victims] were not given any warning. This was an unprovoked attack on a madrasa. They were innocent people."

The attack came two days after about 3,000 fighters held a rally near Khar, raising slogans in support of Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, and Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban's leader.

In January, US forces in Afghanistan carried out an airstrike in Bajaur's Damadola village which US officials said was aimed at al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Al-Zawahiri was not present during the attack.

The Pakistan-Afghan border has been a haven for fighters for decades.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Pakistani paramilitary soldier stands guard at a mosque, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006 in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP)