Senior Taliban cleric killed by a suicide bomber who had hidden explosives in his artificial leg

• 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.

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.