Pakistan: Around four people including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) district chief Abdullah Nadeem and three others have been injured in a bomb exploded at a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s South Waziristan during Friday prayers, reports said.
District Police Officer Asif Bahader told local news agency that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast occurred at 1:45 pm (local time) at Maulana Abdul Aziz Mosque on Azam Warsak Bypass Road, with the device planted in the mosque’s pulpit.
“In the explosion, Abdullah Nadeem, the district chief of JUI, was seriously wounded,” he said. “Three others, also belonging to the JUI, have sustained minor injuries.”
The injured were identified as Rehmanullah, Mullah Noor, and Shah Behran, Dawn reported, quoting a statement issued by the police.
Bahader added that all injured individuals had been taken to the District Headquarters Hospital for immediate medical assistance.
“The police have also reached the site of the blast and are collecting evidence,” he said. “Further investigation is underway.”
Mosques, particularly during Friday prayers when large congregations gather, have been targeted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the past as well.
Last month, six people, including JUI-S leader Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqqani, were killed and 15 injured when a suicide blast ripped through the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in KP’s Nowshera district.
On January 30, 2023, a blast inside a mosque shook Peshawar’s Police Lines area, with officials saying that at least 59 people were killed and 157 were injured.
The explosion ripped through the mosque in Peshawar’s Red Zone area where between 300 and 400 people — mostly police officers — had gathered for prayers. The suicide blast blew away the wall of the prayer hall and an inner roof, Dawn reported.