TEHRAN The destruction of two colossal Buddhist figures in Afghanistan continued unabated Sunday as a delegation of key Islamic clerics arrived to try and save them, Taleban officials said.

"The work is in progress. It is heading to an end," AFP quoted senior Taleban spokesman Abdul Hai Mutmaen as saying.

Mutmaen on Saturday said "80 to 90 percent" of the Bamiyan Buddhas had already been destroyed. But the extent of the damage was impossible to confirm as the religious militia has blocked independent observers from visiting the remote area.

The Taleban have said the huge figures, carved into sandstone cliffs in central Bamiyan city more than 1,500 years ago when Afghanistan was a seat of Buddhism, have been attacked with everything from tanks and rockets to dynamite.

The militia's leader Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a decree two weeks ago to demolish the statues, saying his decision was based on orders of God and the Qoran.

Islamic scholars argue that the edict by Taleban leader is based on a wrong interpretation of Islam.

As Omar ignored international protests and calls to reverse his decision, clerics from the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Egypt arrived in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar for talks with the Taleban chief and Islamic scholars, the Afghan Islamic Press reported.

The Pakistan-based private news agency said the Islamic delegation opened talks with Taleban scholars to try and dissuade the fundamentalist militia from completely destroying the statues.

The delegation includes Egypt's top religious leader, Mufti Sheikh Nasr Farid Wassel, who told reporters in Cairo on Saturday that "from a religious viewpoint it is clear -- these statues are part of the humanity's heritage and do not affect Islam at all."

Wassel was traveling along with a delegation from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which is currently headed by Qatar.

The delegation includes Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmud, OIC official Ibrahim Bakr and two well-known Sunni clerics, Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi and Mohamed al-Rawi.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan opened talks Sunday with Pakistani leaders on the country's tense relations with India, nuclear proliferation in South Asia and the situation in Afghanistan.

Annan met with President Mohammad Rafiq Tarar and discussed the 53-year-old Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, among other regional issues, officials said.

Annan's visit is also aimed at stepping up efforts to help the suffering Afghan people.

United Nations officials have warned that a million Afghans are facing famine this year due to the worst drought in memory and the ongoing civil war between the ruling Taleban Islamic militia and alliance forces.

Annan has expressed concern over the destruction of Buddhist statues and called the monuments the common heritage of mankind.