Been meaning to get to this all day: It’s about time…

At least 80 militants have been killed in an air strike by Pakistani forces on a madrassa (religious school) used as a militant training camp, the army says.

The army said the madrassa in the tribal area of Bajaur bordering Afghanistan was destroyed by helicopter gunships early on Monday.

One eyewitness told the BBC that 70-80 students were inside. A leading local politician says the dead were innocent.

Pakistan has deployed nearly 80,000 troops along the border.

They are there to hunt militants who sought refuge in the rugged tribal terrain after the ousting of the Taleban in Afghanistan in late 2001.

President Pervez Musharraf has pledged to reform madrassas after many were criticised for supporting Islamic militancy.

Monday’s attack took place near Khar, the main town in Bajaur.

The leader of the madrassa, radical cleric Maulana Liaqat, was among the dead.

Zawahiri was the target.

Andy Cochran has more on how the attack explodes the Madrassas-Don’t-Train-Terrorists Myth.

Smart GOP candidates will press their opponents: Do you support the effort to root out jihadists from these madrassa terror sanctuaries or not? Will you pander to CAIR mau-mauers when they take the Islamophobia line or not?

Get them on record. It matters.