Cleric involved in talks with Pakistan Taliban shot dead

Two bike-borne shooters killed Maulana Muhammad Idrees, a prominent Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl cleric involved in peace talks with rebel group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday, reports Rajshekhar Jha.

Islamic State in Khorasan Province claimed responsibility for the killing, which came amid a spate of assassinations of JUI-F figures in KP and Balochistan. Idress, a former provincial lawmaker from Charsadda, was shot dead when he was en route to Darul Uloom Utmanzai. The killing has also brought focus on the cleric’s past differences with Field Marshal Asim Munir.