Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a prominent religious scholar, Maulana Muhammad Idris, in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, police officials said, in an attack that highlights persistent security threats in the region.
The shooting took place in the Utmanzai area of Charsadda district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to police and the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan.
Assailants opened fire on Idris’s vehicle, leaving him critically wounded. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“We are investigating the incident,” said Rab Nawaz Khan, a regional police officer in Mardan. He added that two police officers were also injured in the attack but were out of danger.
No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Idris was affiliated with the religio-political party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, according to Pakistani media reports.
He had reportedly traveled to Afghanistan in 2024 and met with Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada in an effort to ease tensions between Taliban and Pakistan.
Pakistani officials have long accused Taliban of allowing militants to operate from Afghanistan’s territory, a claim the Taliban deny.
Senior Pakistani officials condemned the killing. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed condolences to Idris’s family, while President Asif Ali Zardari said such acts of violence would not weaken the country’s resolve against militancy.
Taliban also condemned the killing in a statement, describing it as an attack on religious scholars and attributing such violence to enemies of Islam.
The statement described Idris as a senior teacher at Darul Uloom Haqqania and said his death was an “irreparable loss” to the religious community. It offered condolences to his family and called for accountability.
The killing underscores ongoing instability in Pakistan’s northwest, where militant violence has persisted despite repeated security operations.
