Islamabad, Pakistan – A suicide bombing at a mosque in northwestern Pakistan has killed at the very least six individuals, together with a outstanding spiritual scholar, and injured at the very least 20, based on authorities.
The mosque is positioned contained in the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Akora Khattak, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Police mentioned the assault occurred simply after Friday prayers had concluded and appeared to focus on Hamid-ul-Haq, the chief of the spiritual political get together Jamiat Ulema Islam-Sami (JUIS), who was killed.
Chatting with the media, the provincial police chief, Zulfiqar Hameed, confirmed the attacker was a suicide bomber. He added that at the very least three policemen had been injured within the assault.
Authorities officers issued statements condemning the assault and expressing condolences to the households of these killed.
“Such cowardly and heinous acts of terrorism can not dampen our resolve towards terrorism,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif mentioned.
No group had claimed duty, however analysts suspected that the ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in Khorasan Province (ISKP) could possibly be behind the bombing.
“Given the symbolism of this seminary and its historical past, it’s extremely possible that the assault was carried out by ISKP. The group has ideological variations with the Afghan Taliban and their supporters, who observe the Deoband faculty of thought,” mentioned Ihsanullah Tipu, an Islamabad-based safety analyst.
Darul Uloom Haqqania, a Deoband seminary, was based in 1947 and was as soon as led by Sami-ul-Haq, Hamid-ul-Haq’s father, who was also known as the “Father of the Taliban”. Sami-ul-Haq was killed in a knife attack in Rawalpindi in 2018.
Hamid-ul-Haq, in his late 50s, was a former member of the Nationwide Meeting and have become the president of JUIS after the demise of his father.
He had beforehand served because the seminary’s vice chancellor and final yr led a delegation of non secular students for “spiritual diplomacy” to Afghanistan, the place he met senior Afghan Taliban chief Abdul Kabir.
He had additionally known as for Pakistan to recognise the Afghan Taliban authorities after the group retook management of the nation in August 2021.
Greater than 4,000 college students are enrolled on the seminary, which additionally has many outstanding Afghan Taliban leaders as alumni, together with Sirajuddin Haqqani, Afghanistan’s interim inside minister, and Amir Khan Muttaqi, the interim international minister.
The Afghan Taliban adheres to Sunni Islam and follows the Deoband faculty of thought. It faces opposition from ISKP, which belongs to the Salafist faculty of thought. The latter is commonly described as ultraconservative, adhering strictly to Islamic regulation.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed a number of assaults on mosques lately. In a January 2023 assault in Peshawar, a suicide bomber focused a mosque inside a police advanced, killing greater than 100 individuals, most of whom had been law enforcement officials.
Whereas no group formally claimed duty for the Peshawar mosque assault, ISKP has carried out several attacks in Pakistan, indiscriminately concentrating on civilians and safety forces.
In certainly one of its bigger assaults, a political rally organised by Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUIF), a rival faction of JUIS but in addition an adherent of the Deobandi faculty of thought, was attacked in July 2023 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district. The bombing killed practically 60 individuals.
The previous few years have seen increasing attacks within the nation with most of them claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban. Final yr noticed greater than 1,500 deaths within the nation resulting from these assaults.
Tipu, co-founder of The Khorasan Diary, a safety analysis portal, emphasised the importance of the assault on the seminary and the killing of Hamid-ul-Haq.
“This seminary has deep historic ties with the Afghan Taliban. Lots of its college students fought towards US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and the present Afghan rulers are actively cracking down on ISKP of their nation,” he mentioned.
In accordance with Tipu, the battle between the Afghan Taliban and ISKP is being fought each on the battlefield and within the ideological sphere. The Taliban has labelled ISKP as “Takfiris”, which means these excommunicated from Islam.
“This assault, which focused a mosque on a Friday, will possible be utilized by the Afghan Taliban and their supporters to strengthen their declare that ISKP just isn’t a part of Islam,” he added.
