‘FATHER OF TALIBAN’ KILLED IN PAKISTAN KNIFE ATTACK

ISLAMABAD: Prominent Pakistani cleric Maulana Samiul Haq, also known as the “father of the Taliban,” was killed in a knife attack at his home in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday, his family and police said.

Haq’s son, Hamidul Haq, said his father was alone in his bedroom when he was attacked by an assailant, who escaped undetected. “My father has been martyred. He was alone at his home. His guard had gone out minutes before the attack and upon his return he saw my father in critical condition,” he told reporters.

Police say Haq, 81, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.

Yousaf Shah, Haq’s spokesman, told The Associated Press that neither the attacker nor their motive was yet known.

Soon after his death, scores of Haq’s supporters rioted, damaging shops and vehicles in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Haq’s family appealed to his followers to remain peaceful.

A well-known religious scholar with a large following among radical Islamists, Haq was the head of his faction of the Jamiat-e-ulema Islam (JUI) party.

Haq’s sprawling Haqqani seminary taught many of Afghanistan’s Taliban and thousands of other students a strict interpretation of Islam, officials said.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, the deputy leader of the Haqqani network, a Us-designated terrorist organisation, was one of dozens of Taliban leaders who graduated from Haq’s seminary,

Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned Haq’s killing.

“We lost a great scholar and religious leader today,” said Khan in a statement from China where he is on an official visit. AP

OFFICIALS SAID HAQ’S HAQQANI SEMINARY TAUGHT MANY TALIBAN MEMBERS ISLAM’S STRICT INTERPRETATION