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Maulana Sami ul-Haq was an influential figure in Pakistan
Pakistani cleric Maulana Sami ul-Haq, nicknamed the father of the Taliban, was killed in Rawalpindi, a city in the north of the country.
Local media have quoted members of his family as stabbing him to death. But other reports say that he was shot dead.
The reason for the attack is not clear.
Haq was the head of the Haqqania madrassa in northern Pakistan, where many Taliban members – including the group's founder, Mullah Omar – had studied.
What do we know about Friday's attack?
There are still conflicting reports about how Haq was killed.
The cleric's son stated that his father had been stabbed "several times" in the house that he owned in Rawalpindi.
"He was resting in his room at the time of Asr when his driver-supervisor left for 15 minutes," said Maulana Hamid ul-Haq, quoted by the Pakistan TV channel Geo TV.
"On his return, he found Maulana Sami ul-Haq dead in bed and his body covered in blood."
At the same time, Haq's nephew, Mohammad Bilal, told Reuters that his uncle was found stabbed and shot in his home on the outskirts of Islamabad.
Until now, no group has claimed responsibility for Friday's attack.
Fears of violence
Afghan officials had recently asked the cleric, who would probably be over 80, to help convince the Taliban to begin peace negotiations.
A former senator, he led a faction of the religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – and was close to Prime Minister Imran Khan's PTI party.
Mr. Khan is currently on an official visit to Beijing, but his office said in a statement that he had sentenced the killing and ordered the opening of an investigation.
The death of the cleric comes at a time of unrest in Pakistan, where demonstrations erupted in several cities after the acquittal of a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.
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Haq had thousands of followers among his students, as well as Afghan and local Taliban members. Mr. Ilyas Khan, of the BBC, says that he fears that his assassination is causing new problems in the streets.
