ISLAMABAD: A suicide bombing at a mosque affiliated with an Islamic religious institution, referred to as the “university of jihad,” in the Nowshera district of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province resulted in the deaths of at least five individuals and left 20 others injured on Friday.
Among the deceased was Maulana Hamid-ul-Haq Haqqani, the head of the Dar-ul-Uloom Haqqania seminary, located in Akora Khattak town, which has educated prominent leaders of the Afghan Taliban. Notably, Mullah Omer, the deceased founder of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, was also an alumnus of this institution.
The seminary has produced several current leaders of the Afghan Taliban, including Amir Khan Muttaqi, Sirajuddin Haqqani, Abdul Latif Mansoor, Maulvi Ahmad Jan, Mullah Jalaludin Haqani, Maulvi Qalamudin, Arifullah Arif, and Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa.
The explosion took place in the main prayer hall as congregants were departing after the weekly Friday prayers.
Zulfiqar Hameed, the police chief of KP, confirmed that the incident was a suicide attack, which also resulted in injuries to three police officers. “At the time of the attack, more than a dozen police personnel were providing security at the mosque, and the seminary itself had its own security measures in place,” he stated. Hameed further indicated that it seems Hamid Haqqani, the slain head of the seminary, was the intended target.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari have denounced the recent attack, which occurred on the final Friday preceding the sacred month of Ramadan for Muslims.
Yawar Zia, a police constable injured in the incident, recounted that he was on security duty at the seminary when the explosion took place, resulting in splinters striking him. “After completing the prayer, Hamid-ul-Haq, along with his security detail, was exiting the mosque when the powerful blast occurred,” stated the injured officer.
Witnesses described a scene of chaos, with blood and dismembered body parts strewn across the area. They noted that the number of casualties could have been significantly higher had the bomber chosen to detonate the device during the prayers.
Haqqani, the son of the late prominent cleric Sami-ul-Haq, often referred to as the “father of the Taliban,” served as the vice-chancellor of the extensive seminary located 60 kilometers from Peshawar, the provincial capital. Following his father’s assassination in 2018, he assumed the role of chairman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) political party and previously held a position in the National Assembly from 2002 to 2007.
Haq was among the few who urged both the international community and Pakistan to promptly recognize the Taliban government and establish diplomatic ties with Afghanistan following the fall of Kabul in 2021. Last year, he led a group of religious scholars to Afghanistan for meetings focused on “religious diplomacy” with Taliban leaders.
His seminary has faced scrutiny in the past, as its students were implicated in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto; however, the madrasa has denied any links to the accused individuals.
