A bomb explosion took place at a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) South Waziristan, Pakistan during Friday prayers. During the incident, JUI district chief Abdullah Nadeem and three others were injured, police said.
According to district Police Officer Asif Bahader stated that an improvised explosive device (IED) blast took place at 1:45 pm at Maulana Abdul Aziz Mosque on Azam Warsak Bypass Road. The device had been planted in the pulpit of the mosque.
“In the explosion, Abdullah Nadeem, the district chief of JUI, was seriously wounded,” he said, as reported by Down.com. “Three others, also belonging to the JUI, have sustained minor injuries.”
As per the polie statement, all the injured were identified as Rehmanullah, Mullah Noor, and Shah Behran. DPO Bahader informed that all those injured were rushed to the District Headquarters Hospital for immediate medical assistance.
“The police have also reached the site of the blast and are collecting evidence. And, further investigation is underway,” he added.
District Police Spokesman Habib Islam told Dawn.com that the responsibility for the attack has not been claimed by any group so far. “Maulana Abdullah had been receiving death threats for quite some time,” he said. “He was also attacked about seven or eight months ago.”
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Mosques Targated Previously
The gathering of large congregations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) Mosques have also been targeted in the past as well.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman strongly condemned the mosque blast, calling it a violation of the sanctity of the holy month of Ramazan. “This attack is both tragic and deplorable,” he stated.
He urged the government and relevant institutions to update the nation on the security situation in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, emphasising that lawlessness and other critical issues in these provinces were being overlooked in parliament.
Last month, a suicide blast at the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in KP’s Nowshera district claimed six lives, including JUI-S leader Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqqani, and left 15 others injured.
On January 30, 2023, a deadly explosion inside a mosque in Peshawar’s Police Lines area resulted in at least 59 fatalities and 157 injuries, according to officials.
The attack occurred in Peshawar’s high-security Red Zone, where 300 to 400 worshippers—mostly police officers—had gathered for prayers. The powerful explosion destroyed a wall of the prayer hall and partially collapsed the inner roof.
Two days later, the death toll rose to 101, as confirmed by the KP health department.
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