LONDON, Nov 26: Quoting a Pakistani official, the Sunday Times has claimed that the bombing of Bajaur madressah last month, in which 82 students and teachers were killed, was carried out by the United States.

The report has been filed by Christina Lamb who has earned a lot of notoriety in Pakistani political and media circles in the past for her not-so-sympathetic coverage of events in the country.

"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 at the madressah.

Local people claimed that the victims included boys as young as 12 and that the representatives of the tribal area had been negotiating with the 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.