BLAST IN MADRASA WHERE MULLA OMAR HAD STAYED IN PAST

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR---PAPER NO.318

B.RAMAN


At least six persons are reported to have been killed in a powerful explosion at the Imdadul Uloom madrasa near the Afghan border at village Qila Saifullah, about 150km (90 miles) from Quetta in Balochistan on December 3,2007. An Afghan refugee had stayed in a room in the madrasa on the night of December 2,2007. After he left on the morning of December 3,2007, the madrasa authorities noticed that he had left behind a bundle. When they opened it, there was an explosion. It is learnt that Mulla Mohammad Omar, the Amir of the Neo Taliban, and the late Mulla Dadullah, the Neo Taliban Commander, who was killed by the Americans in May last in Afghan territory, had stayed in the madrasa in the past. Police sources claim that many of the leaders of the Neo Taliban had been frequently visiting Qila Saifullah. They suspect that the blast must have been the work of American or Afghan intelligence or both.Further details are awaited. About 75,000 Muslims from all over the world attended a convention of the Tablighi Jamaat at Qila Saifullah in August last. (3-12-07)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )