WASHINGTON: The US Treasury on Tuesday set economic sanctions on a Pakistan school it branded a “terrorist training center” supporting Al-Qaeda and the Taleban.

The Treasury said the Ganj madrassa in Peshawar was being used as a training and recruiting base by the two militant groups, as well as the radical Lashkar-e-Taiba blamed for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

The head of the madrassa, Fazeel-A-Tul Shaykh Abu Mohammed Ameen Al-Peshawari, known as Shaykh Aminullah, has been a US and UN-designated terrorist since 2009, for his support for Al-Qaeda and the Taleban.

But it was the first time a madrassa — generally, schools managed under religious principles — has been the target of sanctions, which forbid any Americans from having any business interaction with it, and freeze any of its assets that come under US jurisdiction.

“Today’s action is the first designation of a madrassa that is being abused by terrorist organizations,” the Treasury said in a statement.