'Godfather of Taliban', Maulana Samiul Haq funeral to take place on Saturday

Haq, 82, was stabbed to death by unidentified attackers at his residence in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday.

The funeral prayers of top Pakistani cleric Maulana Samiul Haq, also known as the 'godfather of Taliban', will be held Saturday at his native Akora Khattak town in the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Haq, 82, was stabbed to death by unidentified attackers at his residence in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Friday.

According to an FIR lodged at a police station in Rawalpindi, the attacked took placed at 6.45 pm (local time) and the octogenarian leader was stabbed 12 times in stomach, chest, forehead and ears.

The funeral prayer will be held at Akora Khattak in Nowshehra district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where the provincial government has declared a day of mourning, officials said.

Elaborate security measures have been taken for the last rites of the cleric as several high-profile leaders are expected to attend it.

There are reports that envoys of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar will also attend the funeral prayer.

Haq was the head of the Darul Uloom Haqqania seminary in Akora Khattak.

The seminary is dubbed in the western media as "University of Jihad" as several top Afghan and Pakistani Taliban leaders studied there, including Mullah Omar who had received an honorary doctorate from the seminary.

He was also chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) religious-political party and was elected twice as a member of parliament.

So far, no outfit has claimed the responsibility of the killing.

A probe has been launched to nab the assailants who apparently escaped on a motorbike, police said.

(With inputs from agencies.)