ISLAMABAD: A prominent religious cleric is among five reported dead in a blast that rocked Pakistan’s town of Nowshera.
The blast took place in a religious seminary in Nowshera, Dawn News TV reported on Friday.
The provincial chief secretary has confirmed Maulana Samiul Haq’s son Maulana Hamidul Haq has died in the incident, according to local media reports.
Friday prayers
According to AFP, the explosion happened as people gathered for weekly Friday prayers at the Dar-ul-Uloom Haqqania school in Akora Khattak, about 60 kilometres (35 miles) east of Peshawar.
According to Washington Post, a powerful bomb exploded at a mosque within a pro-Taliban seminary in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing a top cleric and four other worshippers and wounding dozens of others ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan, according to local police.
The blast occurred in Akora Khattak, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, district police chief Abdul Rashid said.
He said Hamidul Haq, who is the head of a faction of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI) party, is also among the dead. Rashid said officers are investigating, and the dead and wounded are being transported to hospitals.
The slain cleric Haq is the son of Maulana Samiul Haq, who was killed in a knife attack at his home in 2018, the Washington Post reported further.
Emergency declared
According to the report published by Dawn News website, Rescue 1122 officials had reached the site of the blast and the police have begun investigating the incident.
Pakistan’s state-run television, the PTV reported that emergency has been declared in Nowshera after the incident.
Daesh behind attack?
According to Senior Pakistani journalist Tahir Khan, some pro-Daesh social media accounts are claiming that the attack was carried out by Daesh or The Islamic State Khorasan (ISK). He said that so far Daesh has not issued a statement in this regard but indirectly through social media accounts it claimed responsibility for the attack.
#داعش کے حامی سوشل میڈیا پوسٹس میں جامعہ #حقانیہ #اکوڑہ #خٹک جامع مسجد میں خود کش حملے کی ذمہ داری قبول کی گئی ہے۔ تفصیل ویڈیو میں
Pro-#Daesh #ISKP social media post claims #Haqqania attackhttps://t.co/7I5t4zAIXx pic.twitter.com/ap6sZ4ar5l
— Tahir Khan (@taahir_khan) February 28, 2025
Blast condemned
According to APP, President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi have condemned the blast.
Blast injures 10 in Pakistan’s southwest
At least 10 people including a soldier of Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) were injured on Friday when an explosion occurred on a main road in Quetta, the capital of the southwestern province of Balochistan, authorities said.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Anwar Ali told reporters that the blast happened near an FC convoy on Jan Muhammad Road, damaging five shops and an FC vehicle.
“The injured FC personnel and others were taken to Civil Hospital Quetta and its Trauma Centre,” he said.
DSP Ali added that the explosion was caused by a remote-controlled device, using about 2-3 kilogrammes of explosives.
Health Department Spokesperson Dr Waseem Baig said one person is in critical condition, while all injured are receiving medical care. He confirmed that all ten injured were taken to the Trauma Centre at Civil Hospital.
