Bomb at seminary in northwest Pakistan kills 5 worshippers, wounds dozens ahead of Ramadan

Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI) party logo. Photo: https://www.facebook.com/juipakofficial/?profile_tab_item_selected=about&_rdr

A powerful bomb exploded at a mosque within a pro-Taliban seminary in northwestern Pakistan on Friday (February 28, 2025), killing at least five 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, Abdul Rashid, a district police chief said.

He said Hamidul Haq, who is the head of a faction of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI) party, is also among those who were critically wounded. Rashid said officers are investigating, and the dead and wounded are being transported to hospitals.

Haq is the son of Maulana Samiul Haq, who was killed in a knife attack at his home in 2018. The cleric was known as the “father of the Taliban,”

Haq’s family has appealed to his followers to remain peaceful, and authorities said Haq was listed in a critical condition. Haq is also in charge of the Jamia Haqqania seminary, where many Afghan Taliban had studied at the seminary in the past two decades.

Zulfiqar Hameed, the provincial police chief, said the attack was apparently a suicide bombing, but bomb disposal experts are still investigating. No group has immediately claimed responsibility.

The bombing came ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start either on Saturday (March 1, 2025) or Sunday (March 2, 2025) subject to the sighting of the crescent moon.

Hameed, the provincial police chief, said more than a dozen police officers were guarding the mosque when the attack occurred, and Haq’s seminary also had its own security.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks in recent years.

As many as 101 people, mostly police officers, were killed in 2023 when a suicide attack targeted a mosque in Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistani authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, for the previous attacks. TTP is a separate group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighbouring Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuaries and have even been living openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, which also emboldened the Pakistani Taliban.