Source: The Associated Press

Missiles hit a religious school in a village just inside Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan on Monday, killing six people, intelligence officials and state media said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the incident follows a series of strikes from unmanned U.S. aircraft in recent months against militant leaders in Pakistan’s wild tribal belt.

It occurred hours before President George W. Bush was to receive Pakistan’s prime minister at the White House amid mounting American and international pressure on Islamabad to act against Taliban and Al Qaeda strongholds in its territory.

State-run Pakistan Television said the missiles hit Azam Warsak, a village in the South Waziristan region. It said six people were killed and several others wounded. PTV did not identify the source of its information or provide any other details.

Two Pakistani intelligence officials said the missiles hit an Islamic school in the village.

One of the officials, who is based in Tank, a town near South Waziristan, said initial reports indicated the six dead consisted of three children and three adults. He said militants, including foreigners, were active in the area, but he did not know if they had been in the school at the time.

Both officials asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it could not comment because the incident was not confirmed.

Pakistan’s border regions have been hit by a series of missile strikes, apparently carried out by U.S. warplanes. One killed a senior Al Qaeda leader in the North Waziristan region in January.

The incidents have strained relations with Washington, particularly since a new Pakistani government took power nearly four months ago and sidelined President Pervez Musharraf, a U.S. ally.

The government is seeking peace agreements in its mountainous border region in an attempt to curb Islamic extremists blamed for a wave of bloody suicide attacks across Pakistan last year.

NATO says the resultant cease-fires are contributing to escalating violence in Afghanistan

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Tags: border, intelligence officials, Missiles, religious school