News - Afghanistan

Kandahar mayor Ghulam Haidar Hamidi was killed in a suicide attack in his office on Wednesday morning, the second high-profile assassination in the province in two weeks.

Mr Hamidi was killed when the bomber detonated his explosives in the hallway of his office this morning, a local police official said.

One of the mayor's bodyguards was also wounded in the blast, the official added.

Kandahar Municipality is located in the heart of the fortified southern Afghan city, the birthplace for the Taliban.

Mr Hamidi, 65, had serving as Kandahar mayor for four years.

Holding a difficult job in the most volatile region of the country, he was tackling with government land looters and had faced with vicious reactions from powerbrokers.

No group, including the Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack so far, but some of the similar attacks carried out recently have been claimed by the Taliban.

The assassination is the latest in a string of attacks on influential officials in the country.

The incident took place as 7 Afghan civilians were wounded in a roadside bomb blast in Loya Weyala area of Kandahar in this morning, officials in Maiwand hospital of Kandahar told TOLOnews report.

Two Afghan policemen and two women have been hurt in the incident.

The attack comes two weeks after President Karzai's half brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, the head of provincial council, was killed in his house in Kandahar city by one of his trusted bodyguards.

His death prompted renewed fears over stability in Kandahar, seen as a critical area in the fight against the Taliban militants.

Violence increased recently as Afghan forces took security responsibility of seven areas in the first phase of security transition process.

Foreign forces are to hand over full security responsibilities by the end of 2014, when all foreign troops are expected to leave Afghanistan.