Thousands of mourners attended a funeral Saturday for a Taliban-linked cleric slain in Pakistan´s northwest.
Hamidul Haq, the head of Jamia Haqqania seminary, was one of seven people killed in a suicide bombing a day earlier at a mosque inside a seminary compound. Police said Haq was the target of the attack.
He was the son of the late Maulana Samiul Haq, who is considered a founding figure for the Afghan and Pakistani branches of the Taliban. Many Afghan Taliban have studied at Jamia Haqqania in the past few decades.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack.
Authorities issued a photo of the alleged suicide bomber and urged the public to identify him, offering a reward of 500,000 rupees, or $1,787, for information on his name, parentage and place of residence.
Mourners packed into the main hall of the seminary for Haq´s funeral, with more praying on the street. The prayers passed without incident due to a heavy police deployment and seminary students guarding the venue.
The bombing at Jamia Haqqania seminary was one of four attacks in Pakistan on Friday, two of them at mosques, which were unusual both in their number and timing, just before the holy month of Ramadan.
Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has announced a monetary reward for information about the unidentified suicide bomber responsible for the deadly attack on a seminary in Nowshera district.
Authorities have released a photograph of the alleged suicide bomber and are offering a reward of Rs500,000 (approximately $1,787) for information leading to the attacker’s identification. They are seeking details on the bomber’s name, parentage, and place of residence.
A statement from the KP police assured that the identity of any informant would remain confidential. The public can contact the authorities through the numbers 0315-9135456 and 091-9212591.
Moreover, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Saturday announced head money, ranging from Rs3m to 30m, for 14 terrorists involved in the recent violence in the Kurram district.
Kurram has been wracked by violence for decades, but around 150 people have been killed in a fresh round of fighting which started in November last year when two separate convoys travelling under police escort were ambushed, leaving 40 people dead. In a statement, the CTD claimed the accused were involved in the assimilation of over 200 people, adding that all the terrorists were associated with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).