Suicide bombing mastermind killed in suicide attack
A split in Afghanistan's Taliban government has violently spilled into Pakistan after a suicide bombing mastermind was himself killed in a suicide attack.
Hamid ul Haq Haqqani died in a blast at his Dar-ul-Uloom Haqqania school – dubbed the 'University of Jihad'– in northern Pakistan on Friday, shortly after prayers had concluded.
At least six others were killed in the attack, with 20 so far reported injured, police said.
Taliban sources told The Telegraph that the cleric was likely another casualty of an internal power struggle that has brought the group to the brink of civil war.
He had days earlier urged the group's members in both countries to pledge allegiance to Sirajuddin Haqqani, Afghanistan's interior minister, over Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader, who is facing an internal revolt over women's rights, the sources added.
Hamid ul Haq Haqqani was the son of Sami ul Haq Haqqani, who was assassinated in 2018 and known as the 'father of the Taliban' for teaching the insurgent group's founder Mullah Omar at the Dar-ul-Uloom school.
The school's sprawling campus in Pakistan's Akora Khattak is home to around 4,000 students who are fed, clothed and educated for free.
Rahmatullah Nabil, former director of Afghanistan's national directorate of security said: 'This is a human being in the guise of the devil. He and his father were both merchants of death.'
The cleric Haqqani had close ties to the Haqqani network in Afghanistan, which is at odds with the Taliban supreme leader.
A Haqqani network commander earlier this month ordered the arrest of an elderly British couple in Afghanistan, in what is thought to have been a political move related to a struggle between factions loyal to the supreme leader Akhundzada and the interior minister Haqqani.
The interior ministry, responsible for detentions and potential releases, is controlled by the Haqqani network, which appeared to engineer the situation to challenge the establishment in Kandahar, where the supreme leader is based.
Tensions are mounting between the group and top Taliban leaders in Kandahar, who are battling a rebellion over the regime's crackdown on women's rights.
A Taliban official in Kandahar said: 'A week ago, at the same school, he [Hamid ul Haq Haqqani] gave a major speech praising Sirajuddin [Haqqani], urging all Taliban members in both Afghanistan and Pakistan to support him over the supreme Mullah.'
He added: 'He described [Sirajuddin] Haqqani as a true fighter who deserves more. These remarks did not sit well with many here, and it is possible that someone opposed to Sirajuddin carried out the attack.'
While the Taliban initially presented a unified front during their takeover of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US and allied forces in 2021, divisions within the leadership have become increasingly apparent.
Ahmad Saeedi, an Afghan analyst, said the attack in Pakistan would prompt the Haqqani network to retaliate against figures close to supreme leader Akhundzada.
He said: 'Hamid ul Haq was a close friend of Sirajuddin and his father and a key pillar of this faction within the Taliban – now, they will seek to strike back.'
Abdul Mateen Qani, the spokesman for the interior ministry in Kabul, said the government 'strongly condemned the attack' and blamed the Islamic State.
Isis, a rival of the Taliban but with which it shares a similar hardline Islamic ideology, has been responsible for several attacks against the Taliban government since it retook power in 2021.
Omar Samad, former Afghan ambassador to Canada and France and a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said internal divisions within the Taliban could create opportunities for other groups to exploit the situation and advance their own interests.
He said: 'It's now the Pakistani government's responsibility to investigate the attack and reveal who was behind it.'
Following the killing of Sirajuddin Haqqani's uncle, the Taliban's minister for refugees, in Kabul last year, some blamed rival factions within the group for his death.
Mr Samad said: 'Today's attack being a continuation of what happened last year is one of the possible scenarios.'
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