Bomb blast at pro-Taliban mosque in Pakistan kills 10, injures several

Karachi: At least 10 people were killed and several others injured in a bomb blast at the Jamia Haqqania mosque in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday. The explosion occurred during Friday prayers in the mosque’s main hall, just days before the start of Ramadan.

District police chief Abdul Rashid said the blast took place in Akora Khattak, and authorities were investigating the incident. The injured were rushed to a hospital, and a state of emergency was declared in the area, according to Dawn. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Jamia Haqqania, a pro-Taliban seminary, houses around 4,000 students who receive free education and food. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General Zulfiqar Hamid said preliminary investigations suggest it was a suicide attack and that Maulana Hamidul Haq may have been the target, Samaa TV reported.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack in a post on X, stating that “the enemy country is conspiring to create instability in Pakistan.”

He assured that authorities would counter such threats and expressed solidarity with the victims’ families, praying for the recovery of Maulana Hamidul Haqqani and other injured individuals.