Thousands in Pakistan attend funeral of 'father of Taliban'

Akora Khattak (Pakistan)  :  Thousands of supporters and followers of Maulana Sami ul-Haq, an Islamic cleric and former senator who was more widely known as the "Father of Taliban", flocked to attend his funeral in Pakistan on Saturday.

Sami ul-Haq, a leader of the political party Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam, was killed in the northern city of Rawalpindi on Friday, although there were conflicting versions of how and where he died. 

"He was resting in his room during Asr (prayer) time when his driver-cum-bodyguard went out for 15 minutes," his son Maulana Hamid ul-Haq told Pakistan's Geo TV. 

"When he returned, he found Maulana Sami ul-Haq dead in his bed and his body covered in blood," the son said, adding his father had been stabbed multiple times. 

Sami ul-Haq was also the head of the Haqqania madrassa, an Islamic school in the north of Pakistan where many Taliban members including the radical group's founder, Mullah Omar, had studied.

Sami ul-Haq had close ties to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's PTI party.

Mohammad Bilal, one of Sami ul-Haq's nephews, told reporters that his body had been found with gunshot and stabbing wounds at his house near Islamabad, 25 km south of Rawalpindi.