Suspected Taleban militants have shot dead a pro-government cleric in southern Afghanistan, the fourth such killing in the past two months. Maulvi Saleh Mohammad was shot by gunmen on a motorcycle in Lashkargar, the capital of Helmand province. A leading cleric in Paktika province and two in Kandahar have also been killed in recent weeks. Separately, the US military said it had killed 17 suspected militants in two days of clashes in the south. Maulvi Saleh Mohammad was the head of the powerful clerics\' council, or ulema, in Helmand. No one has yet said they carried out the attack, but Haji Mohammed Wali, spokesman for the provincial governor, blamed Taleban fighters. \"He was on his way home from the mosque after prayers and he was shot and martyred by two gunmen on motorcycles,\" Mr Wali said. \"The attackers fled the area.\" The killing follows the murder of leading cleric Agha Jan and his wife in eastern Paktika province last Friday. On 3 July, Maulvi Mohammad Musbah was shot dead in Kandahar and in late May gunmen there killed another supporter of President Hamid Karzai, Maulvi Abdullah Fayaz. Taleban spokesman Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi said its fighters carried out the three attacks. More than 500 people, most of them suspected militants, are estimated to have lost their lives in bloodshed in the south and east in the past four months. (BBC)