The US defied a warning from Pakistan not to hunt militants in its territory when an American missile strike on an Islamic school today claimed at least nine lives.

The attack, which was intended to kill a Taleban warlord who is a close ally of Osama bin Laden, is likely to further sour the deteriorating relationship Washington has with Islamabad.

The strike by an unmanned drone hit the compound of a madrassa, or Islamic school, close to the town of Miranshah in the tribal region of North Waziristan near the Afghan border. The site is a suspected training centre for the Taleban, which US commanders believe was used by senior al-Qaeda leaders after the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Only hours earlier Pakistan’s Parliament passed a unanimous resolution demanding an end to US military incursions. “The nation stands united against any incursions and invasions of the homeland,” it said.

The statement came amid a swell of anti-US sentiment among ordinary Pakistanis. Many were outraged by an operation by US Special Forces into the Taleban-controlled South Waziristan in September which left as many as 20 civilians dead, including women and children, according to Pakistani officials.

The US believes that the Taleban-controlled tribal regions of Pakistan are used by militants to launch cross-border attacks into Afghanistan. It has carried out operations in those areas without consulting Islamabad, which has led to furious reactions from Pakistani diplomats.

The target of the strike was thought to have been the militant network overseen by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran of the US-backed mujahideen who fought the Russians when they occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s and who is a friend of Osama bin Laden. Now in his seventies, the Taleban veteran established the madrassa with US backing. At that time he was believed to have forged close links with the CIA and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence.

Analysts suggested that it was likely that the US drone’s main target was Siraj Haqqani, a son of Jalaluddin who is regarded as one of the deadliest commanders in the region. Bill Roggio, of the Long War Journal website, said: “[Siraj Haqqani] is believed to be the mastermind of the most deadly attacks inside Afghanistan as well as the senior military commander in eastern Afghanistan . . . Siraj is believed to be dangerous not only for his connections with the Afghan Taleban, but with al-Qaeda’s central leadership, which extends all the way to Osama bin Laden.”

The airstrike came as Imran Khan, the cricketer turned politician, gave warning that the war on terror was propelling Pakistan towards “anarchy” with tens of thousands of young men turning against the state and into the arms of militant groups in protest at the growing civilian death toll.

“The way this war is being fought is like putting out fire with gasoline,” Mr Khan told an audience at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. “They ended up radicalising the youth, they created a new phenomenon: the Pakistani Taleban. I’m afraid that the longer the war goes on, the more people will be radicalised.”

The number of suicide bombings in Pakistan has surged in recent years, from none in 2004 to 65 last year, with most bombers coming from the Pashtun-dominated tribal areas.

“Just as in the Muslim world the War on Terror is considered a war against Islam, in the tribal areas it is considered a war against Pashtuns,” Mr Khan said. He is one of the few national politicians to have spent time in the tribal areas and despite his marginal status and boycott of elections this year, he still commands respect for his stand over the re-establishment of the independent judiciary dismantled by Pervez Musharraf, the former President.

News of the latest US incursion comes at an unwelcome time for Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistan President. His administration is in negotiation with the International Monetary Fund about a multibillion-dollar rescue package to save the country’s economy from collapse.

The US appears to be testing the resolve of Mr Zardari. US officials have suggested that the controversial September 3 strike was carried out to test how much freedom the Pakistan Government would give them to stray into its territory without imposing sanctions that would prevent the US using the country as a supply channel to its operations in Afghanistan.

Mr Khan attacked Mr Zardari for failing to follow through on his election promise to use dialogue in the effort to bring peace to the tribal areas. “Under Zardari, more military force has been used in the tribal areas than under Musharraf,” he noted. A major military offensive is under way in Bajaur, in the North Western Frontier Province, sending 200,000 people to camps for the displaced.

“What we lack is a leadership in Pakistan that will tell the US that, look, we are not winning the war, we are losing the war,” Mr Khan said.

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