KHAR, Pakistan - Pakistani troops backed by helicopters firing missiles destroyed an al-Qaida-linked training facility in a northwestern tribal area near the Afghan border Monday, killing "many" militants, officials said.

The pre-dawn attack targeted a religious school - known as a madrassa - holding 70-80 militants in a village near the town of Khar, the main town in the Bajur tribal district, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan.

Pakistani paramilitary troops patrol at Mir Ali in Pakistan's tribal area of North Waziristan, along Afghanistan's border March 7, 2006. [AP/file]

Sultan said the facility was destroyed but it was not immediately clear how many people had been killed.

The attack came two days after 5,000 pro-Taliban tribesmen held an anti-American rally in Damadola, a Bajur-area village close to the site of an alleged U.S. missile attack that killed several al-Qaida members and civilians in January.

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

Soldiers on the ground were tallying the number of dead, said Sultan.

An Associated Press reporter living in the area said he saw several helicopters hovering near his house early Monday before hearing a series of explosions, apparently caused by missiles being fired into the madrassa compound.

Helicopters fired four to five rockets into the madrassa, which was run by Liaquat Hussain, a local Islamic cleric who is believed to have been sheltering al-Qaida militants, Sultan said.

A senior intelligence official in Bajur also said that a local al-Qaida leader, Faqir Mohammed, who led Saturday's protest rally, was believed to have been inside the madrassa that was targeted.

It was unclear if Mohammed was among those killed, said the official, who declined to be identified further because he was unauthorized to speak to the media.