Three Killed In Shooting In Pakistani Capital, Including Cleric

Ikramur Rehman was affiliated with the party of firebrand cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman (center), who heads an 11-party opposition alliance to topple the government.

Gunmen have shot and killed a religious cleric, his teenage son and a student on the outskirts of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, police said, amid a rise in militant attacks.

Police said the killing late on February 27 occurred in the Bhara Kahu neighborhood when Mufti Ikramur Rehman was heading toward his car with his 13-year-old son and a seminary student.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and police said a probe had been opened.

Ikramur Rehman was affiliated with the party of firebrand cleric Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who heads an 11-party opposition alliance to topple the government.

Militant violence in Pakistan is on the rise. Last week, four vocational-school instructors who advocated for women's rights were traveling together when they were gunned down in a Pakistani border region.

In recent weeks, at least a dozen military and paramilitary men have been killed in ambushes, attacks, and operations against militant hideouts, mostly in the western border regions.

Based on reporting by AP