Gunmen have killed a leading cleric and opponent of the Taleban in southern Afghanistan, police said. Mawlavi Abdullah Fayaz was attacked by gunmen on a motorcycle as he left his office in the city of Kandahar. Last week Mr Fayaz, a key supporter of President Hamid Karzai, had given a strong speech denouncing Taleban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. Taleban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi told AFP it carried out the killing but this was not independently confirmed. Mr Hakimi said in a telephone call that Mr Fayaz was \"preaching against the Taleban under the name of Islam\". An aide to Mr Fayez said the cleric had died on the way to hospital. Mr Fayez was head of the government-appointed Islamic scholar\'s council and had condemned the Taleban last week at a meeting in Kandahar of about 500 clerics. He said Taleban fighters were killing innocent civilians and the government should be supported for trying to rebuild the country. Taleban insurgents have become more active since a lull over the winter. Scores of militants and a number of Afghan and US-led coalition troops have been killed in the past two months. (BBC)