MARDAN, Dec 23: A cleric and local leader of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F was shot dead by two assailants inside a mosque in Ghalader area here on Thursday.

Eyewitnesses said that the attackers opened fire on the cleric, Pir Allama Shah Nazar, when he was sitting inside the mosque. The accused fled after the attack.

The Sheikh Maltoon Town police station registered a murder case against the two accused, identified as Darya Khan and his son Ikram, and started investigation.

Later, leaders of JUP and JUI-F, including former MNA Maulana Shujaul Mulk, former MPA Maulana Amanat Shah, JUP provincial president and general secretary Sahibzada Fazali Rabani and Fayaz Khan held a demonstration and blocked the Mardan-Nowshera road to protest the killing.