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Senior aide to president Karzai reported killed

July 17, 2011

President Karzai's brother was killed last week

Afghan officials say a senior aide to President Hamid Karzai has been killed in an attack on his home in the Afghan capital.

Jan Mohammad Khan, a former governor of southern Oruzgan Province, is reported to have been a close adviser to Karzai.

Interior and Defense ministry officials said a member of parliament from Oruzgan, Mohammad Hashem Watanwal, also died in the attack in the western Karti Char district.

Some time after the attack, police said security forces and the attackers were still exchanging fire around Khan's house.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes less than a week after Karzai's brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, was shot dead by his bodyguard in southern Kandahar Province.

Earlier on July 17 NATO forces handed over the province of Bamiyan to Afghan security forces, the first move of its kind.

The ceremony at the local police headquarters was not announced in advance and was not broadcast live on any television channel. President Karzai, who has long pushed for the handover, did not attend the event.

Although Bamiyan Province is one of Afghanistan's most peaceful regions, security sources say there are serious fears of Taliban attacks in some of the seven areas selected for the first phase of transition.

The transition process is due to be completed by the end of 2014.

compiled from agency reports

Link to original story on RFE/RL website