Pakistan: Cleric, known as the father of the Taliban, was assassinated

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Pakistani priest Maulana Sami ul-Haq, known as the father of the Taliban, was killed in the northern city of Rawalpindi.

Local media quoted family members as saying they were shot dead. But according to other reports he was shot.

The cause of the attack is unclear.

Haq was in Pakistan's Pakistani Pakistani Haqqania in Madras, where several Taliban members, including founder of the group, Mullah Omar, studied.

What about Friday's attack?

There are still contradictory reports of exactly how Haq died.

The son of the priest said that his father had been stabbed several times in the house in Rawalpindi.

"During the Asr he was resting in his room when he was 15 minutes behind his chauffeur," said Maulana Hamid ul-Haq Pakistan's Geo TV.

"When he returned, Maulana Sami ul-Haq was dead in his bed and his body was covered with blood."

Meanwhile, Haq's nephew, Mohammad Bilal told Reuters that his uncle was shot and shot wounds in his house on the outskirts of Islamabad.

So far, no group was responsible for the attack on Friday.

The fears of violence

Afghan officials have recently asked the priest who thought he was in the 1980s to persuade the Taliban to commence peace talks.

He was an old senator who led a faction of religious Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party and was close to Prime Minister Imran Khan's PTI party.

Mr Khan is currently attending an official visit to Beijing, but his office stated in a statement that he condemned the murder and ordered an investigation.

The death of the clergy occurs during the turmoil in Pakistan, where several townspeople broke out in demonstrating a Christian woman's death sentence for blasphemy.

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Haq had thousands of followers between his students and the Afghan and local Taliban members. BBC M. Ilyas Khan claims that they were afraid that the murder could cause further trouble on the streets.