Islamabad, Pakistan – A suicide bombing at a mosque in northwestern Pakistan has killed at least six people, including a prominent religious scholar, and injured at least 20, according to authorities.
The mosque is located inside the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Akora Khattak, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Police said the attack occurred just after Friday prayers had concluded and appeared to target Hamid-ul-Haq, the leader of the religious political party Jamiat Ulema Islam-Sami (JUIS), who was killed.
Speaking to the media, the provincial police chief, Zulfiqar Hameed, confirmed the attacker was a suicide bomber. He added that at least three policemen were injured in the attack.
Government officials issued statements condemning the attack and expressing condolences to the families of those killed.
“Such cowardly and heinous acts of terrorism cannot dampen our resolve against terrorism,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said.
No group had claimed responsibility, but analysts suspected that the ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in Khorasan Province (ISKP) could be behind the bombing.
“Given the symbolism of this seminary and its history, it is highly likely that the attack was carried out by ISKP. The group has ideological differences with the Afghan Taliban and their supporters, who follow the Deoband school of thought,” said Ihsanullah Tipu, an Islamabad-based security analyst.
Darul Uloom Haqqania, a Deoband seminary, was founded in 1947 and was once led by Sami-ul-Haq, Hamid-ul-Haq’s father, who was often referred to 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 National Assembly and became the president of JUIS after the death of his father.
He had previously served as the seminary’s vice chancellor and last year led a delegation of religious scholars for “religious diplomacy” to Afghanistan, where he met senior Afghan Taliban leader Abdul Kabir.
He had also called for Pakistan to recognise the Afghan Taliban government after the group retook control of the country in August 2021.
More than 4,000 students are enrolled at the seminary, which also has many prominent Afghan Taliban leaders as alumni, including Sirajuddin Haqqani, Afghanistan’s interim interior minister, and Amir Khan Muttaqi, the interim foreign minister.
The Afghan Taliban adheres to Sunni Islam and follows the Deoband school of thought. It faces opposition from ISKP, which belongs to the Salafist school of thought. The latter is often described as ultraconservative, adhering strictly to Islamic law.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has witnessed multiple attacks on mosques in recent years. In a January 2023 attack in Peshawar, a suicide bomber targeted a mosque inside a police complex, killing more than 100 people, most of whom were police officers.
While no group officially claimed responsibility for the Peshawar mosque attack, ISKP has carried out several attacks in Pakistan, indiscriminately targeting civilians and security forces.
In one of its larger attacks, a political rally organised by Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUIF), a rival faction of JUIS but also an adherent of the Deobandi school of thought, was attacked in July 2023 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district. The bombing killed nearly 60 people.
The last few years have seen increasing attacks in the country with most of them claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban. Last year saw more than 1,500 deaths in the country due to these attacks.
Tipu, co-founder of The Khorasan Diary, a security research portal, emphasised the significance of the attack on the seminary and the killing of Hamid-ul-Haq.
“This seminary has deep historical ties with the Afghan Taliban. Many of its students fought against US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and the current Afghan rulers are actively cracking down on ISKP in their country,” he said.
According to Tipu, the conflict between the Afghan Taliban and ISKP is being fought both on the battlefield and in the ideological sphere. The Taliban has labelled ISKP as “Takfiris”, meaning those excommunicated from Islam.
“This attack, which targeted a mosque on a Friday, will likely be used by the Afghan Taliban and their supporters to reinforce their claim that ISKP is not part of Islam,” he added.