KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – A cousin and close associate of outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai was assassinated on Tuesday by a suicide bomber who hid his explosives under his turban, a provincial official said.
The bomber walked up to the home of Hashmat Khalil Karzai to greet him after morning prayers for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, and detonated the explosives after shaking hands with the president’s cousin, said the official.
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.
In that attack, an insurgent posing as a Taliban peace envoy detonated a bomb that was hidden in his turban as he met Rabbani at his home in Kabul.
Tuesday’s attack took place at the reception room for guests at the Karzai family home in southern Kandahar province’s district of Karz, according to Dawa Khan Minapal, the provincial governor’s spokesman.