A prominent Pakistani cleric known as the “father of the Taliban” was stabbed to death, his family and police said.
Maulana Samiul Haq died in the city of Rawalpindi during an attack while he was alone in his bedroom, said his son Hamidul Haq, who escaped unharmed.
“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 said.
The 81-year-old religious scholar was taken to a nearby hospital where he died. Neither the identity of the attacker nor their motive is yet known.
Mr Haq’s death triggered riots among his supporters in both Islamabad and Rawalpindi, with shops and vehicles damaged.
A well-known teacher with a large following among radical Islamists, Mr Haq was the head of his faction of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI) party and enjoyed influence over Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban
Many of the group’s leaders studied a strict interpretation of Islam at his Haqqani seminary, earning him the “father of the Taliban” title.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the deputy leader of the Haqqani network, a US-designated terrorist organisation, was one of dozens of Taliban leaders who graduated from Mr Haq’s seminary, located in the conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the border with Afghanistan.
In recent weeks, dozens of Afghan clerics had appealed to Haq to use his influence with Afghanistan’s Taliban to plot a path to peace that would end the 17-year-long war there.
Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned Haq’s killing.
“We lost a great scholar and religious leader today,” said Mr Khan in a statement from China where he is on an official visit.
Mr Khan was widely criticised for embracing Haq ahead of Pakistan’s July elections that put the former cricketer-turned-politician in power.
Mr Khan’s provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa donated millions of dollars to Haq’s hard-line seminary.
He defended the move saying he wanted to see Pakistan’s thousands of madrassas, or religious schools, broaden their curriculum.
Mr Haq’s funeral is expected to be held on Saturday in town of Akora Khattak, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Additional reporting by AP
