A suicide bomber posing as a Taliban peace envoy assassinated a former Afghan president who for the past year headed a government council trying to negotiate a political settlement with the insurgents.
Tuesday's attack, carried out in former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani's Kabul home by a militant who detonated explosives hidden in his turban, dealt a harsh blow to efforts at ending a decade of war.
President Hamid Karzai cut short a visit to the United States, calling on Afghans to remain unified in the face of Rabbani's "martyrdom." Rabbani's death came days after a daytime assault by insurgents on the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters, deepening a sense of insecurity in the capital.
NATO said in a statement that two suicide bombers were involved in the attack on Rabbani, both of them men who had feigned a desire to reconcile with the government. It was unclear whether a second bomber was able to detonate his explosives.
Afghan officials, however, insisted there was only one attacker. Four of Rabbani's bodyguards also died and a key presidential adviser was wounded in the bombing, they said.
Fazel Karim Aimaq, a former lawmaker from Kunduz province and a friend of Rabbani's, told reporters outside the former president's home that Rabbani had come back from a trip to Iran to meet with a man who had been described as a high-ranking Taliban contact. The visitor was shown into the house but not fully searched, Aimaq said. When Rabbani appeared, the man shook the former president's hand and bowed as a sign of respect, Aimaq said.
"Then his turban exploded," Aimaq said.
Rabbani's death will dent efforts to keep in check the regional and ethnic rivalries that partly feed the insurgency. As one of the wise old men of Afghan politics and the leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, Rabbani's role in the attempts to seek a political deal with the Taliban — with U.S. blessing — will be hard to replace soon.
His death could unleash a well of resentment among some senior Northern Alliance members, who accuse Karzai of colluding with the Taliban.
Rabbani, who was about 70 years old, headed the country's High Peace Council, set up by the Afghan government to work toward a political solution to the decadelong war.
Rabbani was president from 1992 to 1996, heading the Afghan government that preceded the Taliban rule.
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