Karz: Thousands have joined Afghan President Hamid Karzai to mourn at the funeral of his half-brother near Kandahar. Ahmad Wali Karzai, a controversial but key figure in Nato’s battle against the Taliban, was gunned down at home by his bodyguard on Tuesday. Bus-loads of mourners followed the body from the provincial governor’s compound to his family village of Karz, some 20km away.
Reports suggest an explosion hit an official car after the funeral.
Media reports said two of Helmand provincial governor Gulab Mangal’s entourage were injured when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb outside Kandahar.
Security was tight, with helicopters overhead and many troops deployed.
Karzai was shot twice by his family friend and long-time head of security, Sardar Mohammed, who was himself killed almost immediately, in an attack claimed by the Taliban as one of their top achievements in 10 years of war.
Corrupt warlord?
At the graveside in Karz, Hamid Karzai wept and kissed his dead half-brother’s face as senior politicians and mourners looked on, reports from the scene said.
Questions were being asked about how Kandahar’s Mr Fixit had his own security compromised.
The Taliban say the killer was a sleeper agent, and that their intention was to make it more difficult for the Afghan government to exert control over the restive region.
But it seems unlikely that someone so close to the Karzai family was working for the insurgents, says our correspondent. Ahmad Wali Karzai stood accused of many things, from drug trafficking to large-scale corruption.
He had many enemies beyond the Taliban, and others in a criminal network may be to blame for his death.
