A top Taliban cleric has been killed in a suicide bombing by a one-legged man who had explosives hidden in his artificial leg, it has been claimed.
Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, who supported female education, died in the Kabu l blast which happened in his seminary in the Afghanistan capital.
It happened as Kabul is still reeling from the drone killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri recently and that he had been living in plain sight in the capital.
Abdul Rahman, the head of intelligence for the district in the Afghan capital where the blast took place, confirmed the death of Haqqani.
Sheikh Haqqani had a huge student following and thousands followed his teachings on social media.
But he was hated by Islamic State, who saw him as a moderate and who despised his enthusiasm for female education.
Four Taliban sources claimed a man who had previously lost his leg had detonated explosives hidden in a plastic artificial leg.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast, although a local Islamic State cell is suspect number one.
Sheikh Haqqani, who spent many years in a US prison facility at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan opposed Islamic State.
This was believed to have been the third attempt on his life, having been blown up before and even shot at by terrorist opponents in Pakistan.
His killing may have been timed for the year anniversary of the Taliban rolling into Kabul last year which happened 12 months ago next Monday.
Islamic State in the Khorasan, AKA ISK, has opposed the Taliban take-over and has been growing in numbers in recent years in Afghanistan.
The bitter hatred between the two is fuelled by the Taliban’s affiliation with al-Qaeda, who disowned Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which morphed into ISIS.
The religious leader had previously issued a fatwa, or religious decree, in support of female education.
He argued that Afghan women and girls should be able to access education, saying: "There is no justification in the sharia [law] to say female education is not allowed. No justification at all."
He added: "All the religious books have stated female education is permissible and obligatory, because, for example, if a woman gets sick, in an Islamic environment like Afghanistan or Pakistan, and needs treatment, it's much better if she's treated by a female doctor."
In all but a handful of provinces in the country, girls' secondary schools have been ordered to remain closed by the Taliban.
