KP CTD files terrorism case, offers reward for info on Nowshera seminary suicide bomber – Pakistan

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Saturday announced a monetary reward for information about an unidentified suicide bomber, who it had booked in a terrorism case a day ago for a deadly attack on a seminary in Nowshera district.

Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqqani — son of Maulana Samiul Haq and chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-S) — was among six people who perished in the suicide attack at the Darul Uloom Haqqania yesterday.

Another 18 people were injured as the suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body after the Friday prayers congregation.

The first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was registered yesterday on the complaint of Haqqani’s son, Maulana Abdulhaq Sani, who was accompanying his father and was among the injured.

It was filed at CTD’s Mardan region police station at 4:45pm, with the time of the blast stated as 2pm.

The FIR invoked section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 as well as sections 302 (qatl-i-amd or intentional murder), 324 (attempted murder), and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs50) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The complaint named five others who died in the attack as well as nine others — including Sani — who were among the 18 people injured.

According to the FIR, Sani and his father were leaving the seminary to head to their home after the Friday prayers but as they reached the place’s “small gate”, an unknown “miscreant suicide bomber came close to the father (Haqqani) and blew himself up”.

Sani said the blast resulted in the deaths of the six people as well as injured others, including him. He added that there were seminary students and teachers present as well at the time of the incident.

Recalling that the bomber had murdered those named in the FIR and spread fear among the people, Sani urged the police to take action against the unknown attacker under the mentioned laws.

Earlier today, the funeral prayers for Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqqani, the slain JUI-S chief, were held at the same seminary that was targeted yesterday.

Visuals from the funeral, which was held at 11am, showed hundreds of people crowding an interior hall and the exteriors of Darul Uloom Haqqania.

In a related development, the KP CTD today said it has released a picture of the suspected suicide bomber and announced a Rs0.5 million reward for anyone who would provide accurate information about him to the police.

In a statement, the KP police assured the public that the name of the informant would not be disclosed. It provided the following numbers for contact: 0315-9135456 and 091-9212591.

An official report shared by the hospital director said six persons were killed in yesterday’s explosion, with two being pronounced “dead on arrival”. According to the report, an 11-year-old child was also among the 15 injured brought to the hospital.

“Maulana Haq was leaving the seminary for his home after prayers when he was targeted by the suicide bomber,” KP Inspector General (IG) Zulfiqar Hameed had told Dawn.

Three police personnel are also among the injured, Hameed had said, adding that the personnel were deployed to provide security to Haqqani.

Eye-witnesses had said that the suicide bomber had reached the gate used by Haqqani to leave the mosque, adding that the explosion took place after the prayers, when the Maulana was exiting to go home.

“The suicide bomber was dressed as a religious scholar. He arrived at the gate just as the Maulana was leaving the mosque and detonated the explosives,” said Muhammad Mudassar, a local resident.

A former member of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2007, Haqqani took over as party chief after his father, an influential religious scholar and a former senator, was stabbed to death at his residence in Rawalpindi in November 2018.

Often dubbed a ‘Jihad University’ by the Western media, the Darul Uloom Haqqania counts key Taliban figures among its alumni. Founded in 1947, the seminary is located about 60km east of Peshawar on the Grand Trunk Road in Nowshera.

While the seminary’s leadership has maintained a low profile of late, its former head Maulana Samiul Haq, was its most active and vocal leader, both in local and cross-border geo-politics vis a vis Afghanistan. He was often dubbed the “Father of the Afghan Taliban” since many of the key members of that dispensation were his students and protégés.

Leading figures of the Haqqani group — including its head Jalaluddin Haqqani, his sons Sirajuddin Haqqani (the current interior minister of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan), Anas Haqqani and Ibrahim Haqqani – are all graduates of the Darul Uloom seminary, and use the moniker “Haqqani” to signify their connection to Akora Khattak.