Suicide bomber kills senior cleric at pro-Taliban seminary in northwest Pakistan on eve of Ramadan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A senior cleric and five other worshippers were killed Friday in a suicide bomb attack at a pro-Taliban seminary in northwestern Pakistan ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan, police said.

It was one of at least four attacks throughout Pakistan, two of them at mosques, which were unusual both in their number and timing just before the holy period marked by daily fasting in the Muslim-majority country.

Many people also were wounded during the attack at the mosque inside the Jamia Haqqania seminary, in the Akora Khattak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the suicide blast, which happened after an attacker gained entry despite tight security.

Hamidul Haq, the head the seminary and leader of a faction of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI) party, was among the dead, according to district police chief Abdul Rashid.

Haq was the son of the late Maulana Samiul Haq, who was considered a founding figure for both the Afghan and Pakistani branches of the Taliban. Many Afghan Taliban had studied at Haq's seminary over the past two decades.

His family confirmed his death and appealed to his followers to remain peaceful.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other leaders condemned the attack, which came ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start either on Saturday or Sunday depending on the sighting of the crescent moon.

The Afghan Embassy in Islamabad said the bombing was a cowardly act.

The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, denounced the attack and the killing of Haq, and offered condolences to families of the victims.

More than a dozen police officers and the seminary’s own security were guarding the mosque when the attack occurred, provincial police chief Zulfiqar Hameed said.

Yawar Zia said he was among the police officers on security duty when he was hit and wounded by splinters from the bomb. He was transported to the Qazi Hussain Ahmed Hospital by ambulance.

“After offering prayer, Hamidul Haq was leaving the mosque to go home and as he reached the main gate, a powerful explosion occurred, and I fell to the ground, losing consciousness,” Zia told The Associated Press from his hospital bed.

Zahir Shah, a worshipper, said that hundreds of people were leaving the mosque after offering prayers when he heard a powerful blast. He said Haq was returning to his home within the seminary accompanied by guards when the attack occurred.

Shah described a chaotic scene with blood and body parts scattered around, adding that the number of casualties could have been much higher had the bomber struck during the prayers.

Elsewhere in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday, a gunman opened fire inside a mosque in the northwestern Swat Valley, killing at least two people, police said in a statement. The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. Police said a suspect was arrested and the investigation is ongoing.

Also, a roadside bomb exploded near a pharmacy in Orakzai district on Friday, killing two people and wounding six others, police officer Adnan Khan said, without providing further details.

The province has seen several attacks in recent years.

In February 2023, as many as 101 people, mostly police officers, were killed when a suicide attack targeted a mosque in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Separately, six militants were killed on Friday during a security operation in North Waziristan, a district in the restive northwest near the Afghan border, the military said in a statement.

Pakistani authorities have blamed previous attacks on the Pakistani Taliban, which is an ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.

Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary and have even been living openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, which also emboldened the Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan also faces attacks blamed on separatists in the southwest.

On Friday, a roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying security forces in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, wounding 10 people, including two soldiers, police and officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but previous attacks have been blamed on separatists.

Quetta is the capital of Balochistan, which has for years been the scene of a long-running insurgency. Separatists want independence from the central government in Islamabad.

Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar and Abdul Sattar contributed to this story from Peshawar, Pakistan and Quetta, Pakistan.

Injured victim of a roadside bomb explosion receives treatment at hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Security officials examine a damaged security forces' vehicle at the site of a bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Injured victim of a roadside bomb explosion receives a treatment at hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Security officials examine a damaged security forces' vehicle at the site of a bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

A security official checks the site of a bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Security officials check a damaged security forces' vehicle at the site of a bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Security official checks at the site of a bomb blast in Quetta, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

People stand next to the caskets of the victims of bomb explosion in a mosque within a pro-Taliban seminary, at a hospital in Nowshera, a town in the Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Riaz Khan)

A Pakistani mourns next to the caskets of the victims of bomb explosion in a mosque within a pro-Taliban seminary, at a hospital in Nowshera, a town in the Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Riaz Khan)

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda on Wednesday ordered the closure of its border with Congo, where suspected cases of a rare type of Ebola are surging, and as cases have been confirmed at home after Ugandan health workers were exposed to the disease from Congolese patients.

The measure, which goes against the guidance by the World Health Organization, underscores growing fears of contagion in East Africa from Bundibugyo, a rare type of the Ebola virus that is behind this outbreak and that has no approved medicines or vaccines.

Like Congo, Uganda has faced Ebola outbreaks in the past. A local Ugandan task force made the decision on the border closure. The Ugandan health workers were exposed to the virus by Congolese patients who had crossed the border before the outbreak was declared in eastern Congo on May 15.

Border crossings will be authorized only in emergency cases, including for the outbreak response, cargo or security reasons, Dr. Diana Atwine of the Ugandan Ministry of Health, told journalists. Anyone entering from Congo under emergency circumstances will be taken into mandatory isolation for 21 days.

Tracing and isolating Ebola contacts is seen as key to stopping the spread of the disease, which usually manifests as hemorrhagic fever. The virus is spread through close contact with sick or deceased patients’ bodily fluids. Experts say healthcare workers and family members caring for patients face the highest risk.

The number of suspected cases in eastern Congo is nearing 1,000, with at least 220 suspected deaths. Congo’s health ministry on Tuesday said 101 cases have been confirmed, and they are looking into over 3,000 possible contacts.

On Wednesday, Congolese authorities said that the first person who recovered from the Bundibugyo virus has been released home from a treatment center in Rwampara, one of the towns in eastern Congo at the heart of the outbreak.

WHO has discouraged border closures with Congo while acknowledging that neighboring countries are at high risk of contagion. The U.N. health agency has declared this outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

Closures "push the movement of people and goods to informal border crossings that are not monitored, thus increasing the chances of the spread of disease," the agency said.

The Uganda-Congo border is several hundred miles long and crossed by numerous footpaths beyond formal border posts. Many people come and go in the course of a day to visit families or to trade.

Congolese health authorities are struggling to contain the outbreak, which WHO says is outpacing them. The rare type of Ebola was confirmed weeks late as tests were carried out for a more common type. Challenges also include the threat from armed groups in eastern Congo, a large number of displaced people and poor infrastructure.

WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on Wednesday for a ceasefire in eastern Congo to allow safe access for responders and others, saying on social media that “attacks on health facilities make tracking cases and their contacts nearly impossible.”

Responders in Congo have said they are underprepared and under-protected for this outbreak, while conflict-traumatized residents, long wary of outsiders, have attacked a number of clinics and hurled stones and abuse at volunteers trying to make people aware of the virus and its risks.

Infected people or those have been in contact should not undertake international travel unless it’s a medical evacuation, WHO has said. On Wednesday, the Trump administration said it is planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them to the United States.

Uganda has reported seven cases of Ebola, including the first case of a 59-year-old man who died in Kampala, the country's capital, on May 14. While the Ebola case load is not spiking, the number of locals exposed to infection via health workers has been rising.

“They have families, and so the number has been increasing,” Atwine, the Ugandan health official, said of the health workers.

She also said she was dismayed to see some Ugandans forming crowds to celebrate Arsenal as British Premier League champions. The team has a large following in Uganda. Atwine urged people to be vigilant, avoid shaking hands and use sanitizer.

Congo has had 17 Ebola outbreaks. Health experts say aid cuts last year by the U.S. and other rich nations are devastating for eastern Congo, in part because of the region’s unique problems.

Aid groups fighting this outbreak say they don’t have the equipment they need, including face shields and suits to protect health workers from infection, testing kits and body bags needed to safely bury victims.

Associated Press writer Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed to this report.

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Muslims gather to pray at Sayo Muhamed School during the Eid al-Adha celebration amid an Ebola outbreak in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Muslims are reflected in a motorcycle mirror as they gather to pray at Sayo Muhamed School during the Eid al-Adha celebration amid an Ebola outbreak in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A Muslim washes his hands as a precaution against Ebola before attending the Eid al-Adha prayers at Sayo Muhamed School in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A Muslim woman walks towards the prayer grounds at Sayo Muhamed School to perform Eid al-Adha prayers amid an Ebola outbreak in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)