Afghan President Hamid Karzai confirmed his half brother Akhmed Wali Karzai 's assassination in the city of Kandahar on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reported.
"My younger brother was martyred in his house today. This is the life of all Afghan people, I hope these miseries which every Afghan family faces will one day end," Hamid Karzai said at a scheduled press conference with French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday afternoon.
Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar Provincial Council, who was widely considered the most powerful man in southern Afghanistan, was shot in the stomach and chest at home by one of his bodyguards, Sardar Mohammad, who regularly visited him, Al Jazeera said citing a security source.
Wali Karzai was meeting with tribal elders and politicians in his house in downtown Kandahar city when he was shot.
Sardar Mohammad was later shot by other bodyguards, Al Jazeera said.
The Taliban claimed the responsibility for the killing, however security sources said they may not be the organizers of the murder, Al Jazeera reported.
Wali Karzai was one of the key figures in the local Kandahar administration, and was a controversial figure. Western media reports had accused him of links to local drug lords and the CIA.
Several attempts had already been made on his life.
