TIRANA Three Albanian girls were expelled from the foreign language secondary school for wearing Islamic head coverings in class, the school principal said Friday.

"Students must respect the rules of the school which is secular and where religious accoutrements are banned," Prel Vata told AFP.

"It is my religion. I believe in it, and the veil is a requirement for a good Muslim," said Miralda Gjoka, 17, a top English-language student and one of the three expelled.

More than 1,000 Albanians aged between 14 and 18 attend Qoranic schools where their teachers are often Arabs or Kosovo Albanians.

Meanwhile according to analysts, U.S. and Israel agents have recently increased their influence in Albania. The U.S. has established a military base in this country and severely confronts Islamism in Albania.