Karzai’s brother shot dead in Kandahar

Ahmed Wali Karzai was president of provincial council and one of the most powerful men in Afghanistan

Ahmed Wali Karzai (R) was reported to be involved in the Afghan drug trade [EPA]

Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother to the Afghan president and a powerful figure in southern Afghanistan, has been killed, an official and a family member said on Tuesday.
“I confirm that Ahmad Wali was killed inside his house,” Zalmay Ayoubi, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province, told the Reuters news agency.
Wali Karzai was shot dead by his bodyguard, Sardar Mohammad, Ayoubi said, according to the Afghan TOLO news agency. Al Jazeera could not independently confirm that report.
Wali Karzai was the head of the Kandahar provincial council and one of the most powerful men in the country. He has been described in various media reports as a “warlord” in involved in drug smuggling and as a paid asset of the Central Intelligence Agency.
In response to Karzai’s killing, police mobilised a massive response in Kandahar city, according to Kabul-based journalist Matthieu Aikins, who spoke to a resident. Checkpoints were “locked down,” helicopters hovered overhead, and the road to the hospital, where Wali Karzai’s body was taken, was blocked off, Aikins wrote on Twitter.
Ehsanullah Amiri, a TOLO news producer, wrote on Twitter that a journalist from his network was reporting that Wali Karzai’s killer was being held in the hospital.
“[Wali Karzai’s] assassination is a big loss for the president as he helped hold the greater Kandagar region togetherm,” Saad Mohseni, the director of the large media group that owns TOLO, wrote on Twitter.

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