KABUL, July 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Taliban in their latest campaign against pro-government religious leaders have assassinated another clergy in troubled southeast Paktika province, provincial governor said Saturday.

    "The criminal Taliban entered the house of Mawlawi Agha Jan and slaughtered him along with his wife mid last night," Gulab Mangal told Xinhua via telephone.

    The late Agha, who used to stay in Paktika's provincial capital of Sharan was the head of local Ulema or Religious Scholars Council.

    It is the third deadly attack on pro-government religious scholars in the militancy-plaguing southern and southeastern provinces of the post-Taliban nation.

    Earlier two more pro-government religious leaders have been shot dead by Taliban rebels over the past two months.

    Taliban's remnants that staged a violent comeback in early spring have threatened to target any religious figure that supports the US-backed Afghan administration. Enditem