Thousands of mourners attend funeral of Taliban-linked cleric killed in Pakistan suicide blast

AKORA KHATTAK, Pakistan (AP) — Thousands of mourners attended a funeral on Saturday for a Taliban-linked cleric slain in a suicide bomb attack on a seminary in Pakistan’s northwest.

Hamidul Haq, the head of Jamia Haqqania seminary, was one of seven people killed in a suicide bombing on Friday at a mosque inside the compound. Police said Haq was the target of the attack.

Haq 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.

Mourners packed into the main hall of the seminary for the funeral, with more praying on the street. The prayers passed without incident due to a heavy police deployment and seminary students guarding the venue.

Muslim Jan, a cleric at the funeral, called the suicide bombing a tragedy and described the victims as “our teachers and brothers.”

"What happened was a disaster, it was unbearable,” he said.

No one has so far claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, which came just before the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

Authorities issued a photo of the alleged suicide bomber and have offered a reward of 500,000 rupees ($1,787) for information about his identity, parentage and place of residence.

The bombing at the seminary was one of four attacks in Pakistan on Friday, two of them at mosques.

Mourners attend the funeral prayer of a senior Muslim cleric, Hamidul Haq who was killed in the Friday's suicide bomb attack at a pro-Taliban seminary in Akora Khattak, Pakistan, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Mourners attend the funeral prayer of a senior Muslim cleric, Hamidul Haq who was killed in the Friday's suicide bomb attack at a pro-Taliban seminary in Akora Khattak, Pakistan, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Mourners look at the site of Friday's suicide bombing following the funeral prayer of a senior Muslim cleric, Hamidul Haq, at a pro-Taliban seminary in Akora Khattak, Pakistan, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Mourners attend the funeral prayer of a senior Muslim cleric, Hamidul Haq who was killed in the Friday's suicide bomb attack, at a pro-Taliban seminary in Akora Khattak, Pakistan, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

A police officer stands guard as mourners arrive to attend the funeral prayer of a senior Muslim cleric, Hamidul Haq who was killed in the Friday's suicide bomb attack, at a pro-Taliban seminary in Akora Khattak, Pakistan, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Mourners attend the funeral prayer of a senior Muslim cleric, Hamidul Haq who was killed in the Friday's suicide bomb attack at a pro-Taliban seminary in Akora Khattak, Pakistan, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Mourners carry the casket of a senior Muslim cleric, Hamidul Haq who was killed in the Friday's suicide bomb attack at a pro-Taliban seminary, during a funeral prayer in Akora Khattak, Pakistan, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Mourners arrive to attend the funeral prayer of a senior Muslim cleric, Hamidul Haq who was killed in the Friday's suicide bomb attack at a pro-Taliban seminary in Akora Khattak, Pakistan, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Police officers control crowd gather outside a pro-Taliban seminary 'Darul Uloom Haqqania' following a suicide bombing in a mosque, in Akora Khattak, a district in the Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

People gather outside a pro-Taliban seminary 'Darul Uloom Haqqania' following a suicide bombing in a mosque, in Akora Khattak, a district in the Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's photo portrait display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has had references to his two impeachments removed, the latest apparent change at the collection of museums he has accused of bias as he asserts his influence over how official presentations document U.S. history.

The wall text, which summarized Trump's first presidency and noted his 2024 comeback victory, was part of the museum's “American Presidents” exhibition. The description had been placed alongside a photograph of Trump taken during his first term. Now, a different photo appears without any accompanying text block, though the text was available online. Trump was the only president whose display in the gallery, as seen Sunday, did not include any extended text.

The White House did not say whether it sought any changes. Nor did a Smithsonian statement in response to Associated Press questions. But Trump ordered in August that Smithsonian officials review all exhibits before the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The Republican administration said the effort would “ensure alignment with the president’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

Trump's original “portrait label," as the Smithsonian calls it, notes Trump's Supreme Court nominations and his administration's development of COVID-19 vaccines. That section concludes: “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”

Then the text continues: “After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837– 1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”

Asked about the display, White House spokesman Davis Ingle celebrated the new photograph, which shows Trump, brow furrowed, leaning over his Oval Office desk. Ingle said it ensures Trump's “unmatched aura ... will be felt throughout the halls of the National Portrait Gallery.”

The portrait was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, who is credited in the display that includes medallions noting Trump is the 45th and 47th president. Similar numerical medallions appear alongside other presidents' painted portraits that also include the more extended biographical summaries such as what had been part of Trump's display.

Sitting presidents are represented by photographs until their official paintings are commissioned and completed.

Ingle did not answer questions about whether Trump or a White House aide, on his behalf, asked for anything related to the portrait label.

The gallery said in a statement that it had previously rotated two photographs of Trump from its collection before putting up Torok's work.

“The museum is beginning its planned update of the America’s Presidents gallery which will undergo a larger refresh this Spring,” the gallery statement said. “For some new exhibitions and displays, the museum has been exploring quotes or tombstone labels, which provide only general information, such as the artist’s name.”

For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal.

And, the gallery statement noted, “The history of Presidential impeachments continues to be represented in our museums, including the National Museum of American History.”

Trump has made clear his intentions to shape how the federal government documents U.S. history and culture. He has offered an especially harsh assessment of how the Smithsonian and other museums have featured chattel slavery as a seminal variable in the nation's development but also taken steps to reshape how he and his contemporary rivals are depicted.

In the months before his order for a Smithsonian review, he fired the head archivist of the National Archives and said he was firing the National Portrait Gallery's director, Kim Sajet, as part of his overhaul. Sajet maintained the backing of the Smithsonian's governing board, but she ultimately resigned.

At the White House, Trump has designed a notably partisan and subjective “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring gilded photographs of himself and his predecessors — with the exception of Biden, who is represented by an autopen — along with plaques describing their presidencies.

The White House said at the time that Trump himself was a primary author of the plaques. Notably, Trump's two plaques praise the 45th and 47th president as a historically successful figure while those under Biden's autopen stand-in describe the 46th executive as “by far, the worst President in American History” who “brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.”

Barrow reported from Atlanta.

People react to a photograph of President Donald Trump on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Visitors to the National Portrait Gallery walk past the portrait of President Donald Trump, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Visitors stop to look at a photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

A photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)