No less than six other folks were killed in a suicide assault at an Islamic seminary in northern Pakistan that has been described because the “College of Jihad”.The blast took place on the mosque throughout the Darul Uloom Haqqania, within the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 55km (34 miles) from the northern town of Peshawar.Maulana Hamid ul-Haq, a distinguished cleric and the influential head of the college, is without doubt one of the useless. Police mentioned greater than 10 folks have been injured.The seminary has lengthy been related to the Taliban since a number of of its contributors, together with the gang’s founder Mullah Omar, educated there.No one has claimed accountability for the assault, which got here forward of the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.The explosion took place after Friday prayers, in step with native police.Haq’s son, Khuzaima Sami, advised the BBC that loads had been found in the primary corridor on the time of the blast and that he feared there could be many casualties.An investigation has been introduced into the assault.”Preliminary experiences counsel the blast took place after Friday prayers as other folks had been amassing to greet Hamid ul-Haq,” Abdul Rasheed, the district police leader, advised the AFP information company.The seminary – the place clerics are taught – often referred to as a madrassa, is thought of as one of the most area’s most famous spiritual tutorial establishments and is the most important educational centre of the Deoband faculty of idea.It’s been known as the “College of Jihad” because of its notable alumni, together with Jalaluddin Haqqani, the founding father of the militant Haqqani Community, and his son Sirajuddin Haqqani.Each males performed key roles in main the Taliban’s insurgency, first towards Soviet forces and later towards US and Nato forces, in Afghanistan.Haq, 57, was once the son of the influential Pakistani cleric Maulana Sami ul-Haq, extensively referred to as the “Father of the Taliban”.He become the seminary’s vice-chancellor after his father’s assassination in 2018, and the top of a faction of the spiritual Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) political celebration.He additionally served as a member of the Nationwide Meeting of Pakistan from 2002 to 2007.Haq’s father had longstanding ties with the Afghan Taliban’s management, together with Mullah Omar.He was once thought to be an influential determine in facilitating negotiations between the Taliban and the Pakistani govt.Regardless of their sturdy connections with the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban, neither Haq nor his father had been immediately interested in any anti-state actions.As an alternative, they had been regularly observed as intermediaries between Pakistan and the Taliban.Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Top Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif condemned the assault, as did the Pakistani Taliban.The gang described Haq as a “preacher of reality, a compassionate instructor, and a fearless suggest for the steadiness of madrassas”.
