- The influential Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani had been previously targeted by an ISIS affiliate.
- The religios leader supported access to education for Afghanistan's girls and women.
- He was killed by a suicide bomber with explosives hidden in an artificial limb.
A prominent Taliban religious leader, Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, has been killed by a suicide bomber who hid explosives in an artificial leg, Reuters reports.
Sheikh Haqqani was targeted during a visit to a religious seminary in Kabul on Thursday, According to local reports, per the BBC.
"Very sadly informed that respected cleric (Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani) was martyred in a cowardly attack by enemies," said Bilal Karimi, a spokesperson for the Taliban administration.
The Taliban said Haqqani's death is a "very huge loss for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan."
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, Reuters reports.
Sheikh Haqqani, a prominent critic of ISIS, may also have been targeted because he supported the right of girls and women to be educated.
"There is no justification in the sharia [law] to say female education is not allowed. No justification at all," he said in an interview with the BBC.
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."
Sheikh Haqqani had survived two previous assassination attempts, according to the BBC.
Islamic State's Afghan affiliate, ISIS-K, has become a growing threat to the Taliban regime that now rules Afghanistan, attacking religious minorities and assassinating Taliban officials.
