A cousin and close associate of outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai was assassinated on Tuesday by a suicide bomber who had hid explosives under his turban, a provincial official said.
The bomber had gone to Hashmat Khalil Karzai’s house to greet him on Eid-ul-Fitr, and detonated the explosives after shaking hands with the President’s cousin, the official added.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which was reminiscent of the September 2011 killing of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who at the time was the leader of a Government-appointed peace council seeking reconciliation with militants.
Tuesday’s attack took place at the reception room for guests at the Karzai family home in southern Kandahar, Provincial Governor’s spokesman Dawa Khan Minapal said.
Hashmat, a political figure in his own right, has been his cousin’s staunch supporter and has also backed former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai’s bid to succeed President Karzai.
It was not the first time that Karzai’s family members have been targeted. The President’s powerful half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, who was the head of the provincial council, was murdered by his bodyguard in July 2011.
The attack came at a sensitive time in Afghanistan as an audit is taking place under international supervision of all 8 million ballots cast last month in the second round of the country’s presidential election. The process is a key to insuring a peaceful transfer of power ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign troops by the end of the year.
His slain cousin Hashmat ran a private security company and was also on Ahmadzai’s election campaign team as campaign manager for Kandahar.