Karzai’s brother shot dead by his bodyguard

The half brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been shot dead by one of his bodyguards, according to Interior Ministry officials.

"Ahmad Wali Karzai was martyred by a bullet strike inside his house in Kandahar," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

"I confirm that Ahmad Wali was killed inside his house," a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province said.

Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, head of the counter-terrorism department at the Interior Ministry said that the killing was probably the work of someone within Ahmad Wali Karzai's inner circle.

Wali Karzai was the head of Kandahar's provincial council and seen as a major player in dangerous southern Afghanistan. But he was also accused of involvement in Afghanistan's narcotics trade and corruption, which he denied.

President Karzai said the assassination reflects the suffering of all Afghan people. Karzai said Wali's death is a pain he shares with all Afghans.

"In the houses of the people of Afghanistan, each of us is suffering and our hope is, God willing, to remove this suffering from the people of Afghanistan and implement peace and stability," the president said.