PESHAWAR: A senior Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader succumbed to his injuries after being critically wounded in a bomb blast near a madressah in Wana Bazaar area on Saturday.
Police said that a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) was planted in the Konra Cheena area near a seminary to target Maulana Sultan Muhammad Wazir, who was also the district president of Wafaqul Madaris al Arabia.
He was seriously injured and being rushed to Dera Ismail Khan for medical treatment but breathed his last on the way.
Lower South Waziristan District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Tahir Shah Wazir said that an investigation into the incident was under way.
Seven killed, 17 injured in South Waziristan explosion
The attack on Maulana Sultan is the latest in a series of incidents targeting religious scholars and JUI-F leaders in South Waziristan, particularly in Wana and the Birmal tehsil over the past two years.
JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman expressed his deep grief on Sultan’s death, describing him as a “devoted and courageous leader”, said a statement posted on X.
He said that the incident is not merely an attack on an individual but an assault on the moderate, peaceful, and democratic ideology. He asserted that the JUI-F was the flag-bearer of these values.
He asserted that the JUI-F had always opposed oppression and violence, spoken for the supremacy of the Constitution and law, and adopted the struggle for reform and peace as its motto while remaining within the framework of the state.
“This is precisely why the party, while staying away from all shades of extremism and radicalism, is recognised as a balanced, responsible, and mainstream national political force.”
He affirmed that the JUI-F would continue its struggle for peace, religious harmony, democratic values, and constitutional supremacy in the country with full resolve, no matter how many sacrifices it must give along the way.
In another incident, a suspected improvised explosive device (IED) blast targeted the vehicle of peace committee chief Qadeem Khan in the Barwand area of South Waziristan’s Servekai tehsil.
District Police Officer (DPO) Upper South Waziristan Arshad Khan said that the vehicle sustained significant damage in the attack, but the peace committee chief escaped with minor injuries.
Police sources said security personnel reached the site immediately, cordoned off the area, and shifted the injured leader to a local hospital. The DPO confirmed that initial inquiries suggest the blast was carried out using an IED, deliberately targeting the peace committee chief. He said police were examining all aspects of the incident and had launched a search operation to apprehend the perpetrators.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026