Religious scholar among 5 killed in suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan

At least five people, including a prominent religious scholar, were killed and 20 injured in a suspected suicide attack during Friday prayers at a religious seminary in northwestern Pakistan, police said.

The bombing occurred at the prominent seminary Darul Uloom Haqqania, located in the Akora Khattak area of Nowshera district, targeting the seminary head, Maulana Hamid-ul-Haq, who is also among the dead, Zulfikar Hameed, police chief of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which includes Nowshera, told reporters.

The seminary is believed to be the alma mater of several Afghan Taliban leaders.

The police said the suspected bomber blew himself up at the exit of the main prayer hall of the seminary.

*Remains of the suicide bomber have been sent for DNA analysis, according to the police.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but security forces suspect the involvement of ISIS (Daesh) terrorist group, which has long been targeting Taliban leaders and their supporters in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Authorities declared an emergency in hospitals and health facilities across Nowshera and the provincial capital Peshawar.

Haq's father, Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, a former Senator, was also assassinated in the northeastern garrison city of Rawalpindi in 2018.

Haq was head of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, one of the mainstream religiopolitical parties in Pakistan.

He was believed to have close relations with the Afghan Taliban, and had met their leaders as part of “religious diplomacy” last year.

President Asif Ali Zardari “strongly” condemned the attack and offered condolences to the victims’ families, according to a statement from the president’s office.

“Targeting innocent worshippers is a despicable and heinous act,” he said. “Terrorists are enemies of the country, nation, and humanity,” Zardari said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the attack and expressed well wishes for the injured, according to a statement from his office.

Roadside blast in Balochistan

At least one policeman was killed and another nine people were injured in a roadside blast in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Balochistan province on Friday, the police said.

The bomb was planted in a motorbike parked at the site of the explosion.