NOWSHERA: A devastating suicide attack struck the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Nowshera district during Friday prayers, killing Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) chief Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqqani and six others, officials confirmed.
Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, the provincial government spokesperson, verified that Maulana Hamidul Haq, the son of the late Maulana Samiul Haq—often referred to as the “father of the Taliban”—was among the deceased.
No organization immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The explosion, which ripped through the seminary’s main prayer hall, left over twenty worshippers seriously wounded, with four reported in critical condition. Among the injured were a child and three police officers.
Eyewitnesses recounted that the blast occurred as attendees were leaving the mosque after prayers. The injured, including Maulana Haq, were rushed to CMH Nowshera, while others were taken to Qazi Hussain Ahmed Medical Complex and the district headquarters hospital for treatment.
According to Maulana Abdul Haq, the victim’s brother, the attacker—wearing a suicide vest—approached Maulana Hamidul Haq just as he was exiting the mosque and detonated the explosives. “He died on the spot, and nearly two dozen people sustained injuries,” he told Reuters.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack and expressed profound grief over Haq’s tragic demise in an official statement.
The Afghan Taliban also denounced the bombing, calling Maulana Hamidul Haq’s death a “great loss to the scholarly community.” Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat vowed, “May God take revenge for this heinous crime against religious scholars active in the region.”
Earlier, the Taliban’s embassy in Islamabad labeled the attack a “cowardly act,” reinforcing their condemnation.
(Additional reporting by Agencies and News Desk.)
