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Deadly Blast Rocks Pro-Taliban Seminary In Pakistan


A man walks past the Jamia Haqqania seminary in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (file photo)
A man walks past the Jamia Haqqania seminary in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (file photo)

A powerful explosion at a seminary in northwestern Pakistan has killed at least seven people, including a top cleric.

The Jamia Haqqania seminary in Akkora Khattak, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, is renowned for training key Taliban figures.

Local officials said that those killed in the blast on February 28 include Hamid ul-Haq Haqqani, a Pakistani politician and deputy head of the seminary.

Provincial police chief Zulfiqar Hameed told reporters that initial evidence suggests the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber specifically targeting Haqqani.

The Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, said in a statement that it "strongly condemns" the attack on the religious school

No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.

Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for the local emergency services, told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal that least 20 people were injured in the explosion.

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