Pakistan's 'father of the Taliban' Maulana Samiul Haq killed at home

Maulana Samiul Haq leader of Islamic political party Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam (Picture: EPA)

The prominent Pakistani cleric Maulana Samiul Haq, also known as the "Father of the Taliban", has been killed at his home town of Rawalpindi, his family and police said.

The cleric who taught some of the Afghan Islamist movement's leaders was found killed on Friday in a Pakistani city, a relative and his deputy 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.

People gather outside a hospital waiting to receive the body of Pakistani cleric Maulana Samiul Haq, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan (AP)

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

Unknown attackers killed the cleric, who runs an Islamic seminary in northwestern Pakistan, a police spokesman said.

Pakistani police stand alert outside a hospital where supporters gather to receive the body of the cleric (AP)

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

There were conflicting reports of exactly how he was killed and why his bodyguard and driver were apparently not there to defend him at the time of the attack.

Shah initially said that Haq had been shot dead.

Supporters of Pakistan's religious hardline party Jamiat Ulema Islam march during a protest rally following the Supreme Court's decision to acquit Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi of blasphemy, in Peshawar today. (AFP/Getty Images)

Haq's nephew Mohammad Bilal told Reuters that his uncle was found with stabbing and gunshot wounds in a house he owns in an upscale area on Islamabad's outskirts.

"When the assailants entered his house... They first started hitting Mullah Sami ul-Haq with knives and daggers and then shot him dead," he said.

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.

He ran the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghanistan border, for decades.

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.

Haq's funeral is expected to be held Saturday in Akora Khattak.