Cleric killed after explosion at supermarket in South Waziristan's Wana

LOWER SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: A cleric was killed following an explosion, suspected to have been caused by a pressure bomb, at a supermarket in Lower South Waziristan’s Wana on Monday, police said. Wana Circle Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Asghar Ali Shah told Dawn that the explosion occurred on the ground floor of a supermarket located in Rustam Bazaar. He said Mufti Jana Mir Masti Khel sustained critical injuries in the explosion and was immediately shifted to Wana district headquarters hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The DSP added that he and Wana City Police Station House Officer Usman Wazir, along with a large contingent of police, reached the site of the incident after the explosion, and the area was cordoned off while investigators collected forensic evidence. DSP Shah said initial investigation suggested the bomb was planted to target the cleric. He said police had filed an initial complaint and further investigation was under way to identify the perpetrators and determine the motive behind the attack. The incident comes just three days after unidentified gunmen shot dead Maulana Ismail, a cleric affiliated with Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), in Azam Warsak Bazaar of Lower South Waziristan’s Birmal tehsil. On July 28, a local cleric was killed and two other people were injured in a suspected quadcopter attack near a mosque in the Landi Doag area of Birmal. In January, JUI-F leader Maulana Sultan Muhammad Wazir was critically injured in a bomb blast near a madressah in South Waziristan’s Wana Bazaar area and later succumbed to his injuries.