Leading Muslim Cleric Killed in Suicide Bomb Attack in Lahore

[tekisui]

Source: Times Online

A prominent Pakistani Muslim cleric who founded a religious alliance against the Taleban was killed today in a suicide bomb attack on his Islamic college in the eastern city of Lahore.

Sarfraz Ahmed Naeemi appeared to have been the target of the blast in his office at the Jamia Naeemia madrassa, which he headed and where he had just conducted Friday prayers.

Dr Naeemi - whose father founded the madrassa and who was well known and respected in Lahore and across Pakistan - died on the way to hospital, according to his son, Waqar.

“I was still in the mosque when I heard a big bang. We rushed towards the office and there was a smell of explosives in the air. There was blood and several people were crying in pain,” Waqar said.

Geo TV showed Dr Naeemi’s body lying on a stretcher, his beard and hair covered in dust and blood stains around his nostrils.

Tariq Saleem Dogar, the Punjab provincial police chief, denounced the attack on the madrassa - which taught maths and computer science as well as Islamic studies - as un-Islamic.

more: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6486033.ece