At least five people, including Taliban-linked cleric, killed in suicide bombing in Pakistan

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. (AP: Arshad Butt)

In short:

A suicide bomber has killed at least five people at an Islamic seminary in Pakistan, including the son of the late Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, considered the father of the Taliban.

Provincial police chief said Maulana Hamid-ul-Haq was the target of the suicide bombing.

The attack came ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

A suicide bomber has killed at least five worshippers, including a Taliban-linked cleric, during Friday prayers at an Islamic seminary in north-western Pakistan, according to a government spokesperson. 

Among those killed was Maulana Hamid-ul-Haq, the son of the late Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, who was considered the father of the Taliban.

'Father of Taliban' killed

Photo shows Sami ul-Haq

Sami ul-Haq's deputy says unknown attackers killed the cleric, who ran an Islamic seminary in north-western Pakistan and was seen as a possible intermediary in talks between the Afghan Government and the Taliban.

Provincial police chief Zulfiqar Hameed told reporters Haq was the target of the suicide bombing.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. 

The attacker, wearing an explosive-laden suicide vest, walked up to Haq as he was leaving a mosque on the premises of the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary, his brother Maulana Abdul Haq told Reuters.

"Maulana Hamid-ul-Haq … died on the spot and around two dozen people were injured in the blast," he said.

Haq was also in charge of the Jamia Haqqania seminary, where many Afghan Taliban had studied in the past two decades.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Regional police officer Najeebur Rahman said the bombing also wounded several people. 

A security official checks the site after the suicide bombing. (AP: Arshad Butt)

Yawar Zia, a police officer who was injured in the attack, said he was on a security duty at the seminary when the attack occurred and splinters from the bomb hit him. 

"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 reporters from his hospital bed.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the bombing, and expressed sorrow over Haq's death, in a statement issued by his office.

The attack came ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start either on Saturday or Sunday, subject to the sighting of the crescent moon.

The Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary was the launch pad for the Taliban movement in the 1990s. 

It is still often described as an incubator for radical Islamists.

ABC/Reuters/AP