The brother of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada was killed in a blast at a mosque in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Friday, media reports said.
Foreign media outlets quoted Taliban sources as saying Hafiz Ahmadullah, the younger brother of the Taliban leader, was among four people killed in the blast on the outskirts of Quetta.
DawnNewsTV quoted Inspector General of Balochistan Police Mohsin Hassan Butt said as confirming the killing of four people in the blast that took place in a madressah in Kuchlak area.
Twenty-two others were also wounded in the blast that took place after Friday prayers and they were shifted to Civil Hospital Quetta.
The imam of the mosque inside the seminary, located 25km from the city of Quetta, was killed in the explosion, IG Butt said.
“The blast was carried out through a timed device that was planted under the wooden chair of the prayer leader,” said Quetta police chief Abdul Razzaq Cheema.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
“The death toll could increase as some of the victims were seriously injured,” Shafqat Janjua, a police official, told Reuters.