Afghan president’s cousin killed

Ashmat Khlil Karzai, a cousin of the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, was attacked by a suicide bomber in Kandahar city. He was receiving guests on the Eid al-Fitr holiday when a visitor with explosives hidden inside his turban blew himself up.

"A suicide bomber disguised as a guest came to Hashmat Karzai’s house to greet him…After he hugged Ashmat, he blew up his explosives and killed him," said the spokesman for the provincial governor of Kandahar, Dawa Khan Minapal.

Ashmat Karzai was the only victim. No organization claimed responsibility for the attack.

Ashmat Karzai was the campaign manager for Ashraf Ghani, one of the candidates for this year’s presidential elections. He first worked with Qayyum Karzai, the president’s brother, but began campaigning for Ghani after the former withdrew from the presidential race.

Preliminary results declared Ashraf Ghani as the winner, but he has been at loggerheads with opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah over the results of a second round of elections conducted in June.

Abdullah Abdullah has accused Ghani of massive fraud and refused to admit defeat. An audit of the ballots is now underway, but there are fears that the country could be at the brink of ethnic violence if the accusations of fraud are not resolved.

mg/dr (AFP, Reuters, dpa)