PESHAWAR, April 20: A rocket was fired at the residential compound of JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman in Dera Ismail Khan on Friday night.

The rocket created a hole

in the outer wall of the compound but did not cause much damage.

“It was a single rocket and there was no damage,” a policeman on duty at the control room in Dera Ismail Khan, told Dawn by telephone.

It was not immediately known as to who could be behind the rocket attack, but the JUI-F had sponsored a convention of over one thousand seminaries in Peshawar on Tuesday that had declared suicide bombings and vigilante activities by some elements un-Islamic.

The rocket was fired at 11.30 pm and hit the outer wall of the house of Maulana Ataur Rehman, younger brother of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, in Shorkot, about 15 km to the north of the city, on Bannu Road.

The compound situated adjacent to a madressah includes the house of Malana Fazlur Rehman and his two brothers, Maulana Ataur Rehman and Maulana Lutfur Rehman.

Police said they were not aware whether the MMA leader was in the house at the time of the attack but the inmates of the house escaped the attack.

The JUI-F leader was quoted by a private television channel as confirming the incident.

Dera Ismail Khan is one of the three southern districts besides Bannu, Tank and Lakki Marwat that has been affected by Talibanisation which, according to analysts, is the direct result of militancy in neighbouring tribal regions of North and South Waziristan.