JUI-F leader among four injured in mosque blast

Published March 15, 2025 Updated March 15, 2025 06:55am

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Four people, including the district chief of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl), were injured in an explosion inside a mosque in Lower South Waziristan district on Friday.

This was a second attack that apparently targeted JUI-F leader Maulana Abdullah Wazir. He had narrowly escaped a remote-controlled bomb blast on the Wana-Azam Warsak Road near Kalosha.

The explosive material was placed under the pulpit in the prayer hall of the mosque in the Azam Warsak bazaar area of Birmal tehsil and the blast took place during Friday sermon, according to District Police Officer (DPO) Asif Bahader.

The DPO said Maulana Abdullah was inside the mosque at the time of blast, which left him along with three other men Rahmanullah, Moula Noor and Shah Behram injured. All the victims were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, Wana.

The JUI-F leader was later referred from D.I. Khan to a hospital in Multan.

A special investigation team was formed to collect evidence from the blast site.

District police spokesman Habib Islam said that no group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far, Dawn.com reported. “Maulana Abdullah had been receiving death threats for quite some time,” he said. “He was also attacked about seven or eight months ago.”

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman condemned the mosque blast, saying its sanctity had been violated in the holy month of Ramazan.

“The blast is tragic and condemnable,” he said in a statement.

He urged the government and institutions to brief the nation on the situation in Balochistan and KP, adding that lawlessness and other key issues in both provinces were being ignored in parliament.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the blast in a statement from his office, stating that the incident “violated” the sanctity of the mosque.

“The sanctity of the mosque was violated during the holy month of Ramazan,” Naqvi was quoted as saying. “The blast … is a cowardly act of the enemy.”

The interior minister said that the “beasts” who carried out the attack deserve no concessions and prayed for the speedy recovery of Maulana Abdullah and the other injured.

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.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2025

Opinion

Editorial

Revised solar policy
Updated 15 Mar, 2025

Revised solar policy

Criticism policy revisions misplaced as these will increase payback periods for consumers with oversized solar systems.
Toxic prejudice
15 Mar, 2025

Toxic prejudice

WITH far-right movements on the march across the world, it is no surprise that anti-Muslim bias is witnessing high...
Children in jails
15 Mar, 2025

Children in jails

PAKISTAN’S children in prison have often been treated like adult criminals. The Sindh government’s programme to...
Cohesive response
Updated 14 Mar, 2025

Cohesive response

Solely militarised response has failed to deliver, counterterrorism efforts must be complemented by political outreach in Balochistan.
Agriculture tax
14 Mar, 2025

Agriculture tax

THE changes in the provincial agriculture income tax laws aimed at aligning their rates with the federal corporate...
Closing the gap
14 Mar, 2025

Closing the gap

PAKISTAN continues to struggle with gender inequality in its labour market. A new report by the ILO shows just how...