Story highlights
NEW: President Karzai condemned the attack
Hashmat Khalil Karzai, the cousin of Hamid Karzai, was killed by a suicide bomber
3 years ago, the president's half-brother was shot to death
President Karzai's father was assassinated in 1999 in Pakistan
A cousin of Afghan President Hamid Karzai died in a bombing Tuesday, a provincial spokesman said, marking the latest killing of a Karzai relative.
Hashmat Khalil Karzai, an influential figure in southern Kandahar, died in the blast, Kandahar provincial spokesman Dawa Khan Minapal said.
Minapal said a suicide bomber was among a group of people who were visiting Hashmat Karzai at his house for Eid al-Fitr celebrations when he detonated his explosives.
Hashmat Karzai was a member of Kandahar provincial council and was a key campaigner and ally of presidential candidate Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai in the south of the country.
The killing comes three years after the president’s half brother was killed and 15 years after his father was killed.
In 2011, half brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was shot to death in his home by a guard.
Ahmed Wali Karzai was the Kandahar provincial council chief. A governor’s spokesman said he was shot by a guard, who was subsequently shot dead by other guards.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying the guard was working for them.
And in 1999, Hamid Karzai’s father Abdul Ahad Karzai, a former senator in the Afghan parliament, was shot to death in Quetta, Pakistan. The family has blamed the Taliban for that assassination.
Hamid Karzai is preparing to leave office after Afghanistan’s presidential election, which took place earlier this year. But both presidential contenders allege large-scale voter fraud.
The President condemned the attrack.
“Every day, Afghans are martyred by the terrorists in Afghanistan and my family is not exceptional from this calamity and we accept this sacrifice,’ he said.
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CNN’s Masoud Popalzai reported from Kabul; CNN’s Holly Yan reported and wrote from Atlanta.