Afghan President Hamid Karzai held on Wednesday a funeral of his killed brother, who was considered as NATO’s main ally in the volatile southern province of Kandahar.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai held on Wednesday a funeral of his killed brother, who was considered as NATO’s main ally in the volatile southern province of Kandahar.

Analysts have warned that the death of Ahmed Wali Karzai, who may have been dogged by allegations of links to the drugs trade and corruption, might create a dangerous power vacuum in Kandahar, the birth place of Taliban movement.
Prayers were held at the Mandigak Palace, a government guesthouse, before the body was driven 30 minutes for burial in the family village of Karz, followed by the president's delegation that included turbaned tribesmen.

The slain brother was shot dead on Tuesday at home by his own head of security.
The Taliban claimed to have recruited the gunman, but there was doubt after the regional police chief and other officials identified the assassin as the long-serving chief of his family's personal protection force.

Kandahar police chief Abdul Razeq named him as Sardar Mohammed, commander of 200 bodyguards who had provided security for the Wali Karzai's family in the city for seven years. He was killed immediately afterwards.

"An investigation is under way to determine if it was a personal hostility or there were some foreign hands behind it," Kandahar governor Tooryalai Wesa told reporters.
"He was a very trusted person. He (Wali Karzai) knew him for years. No one could even think he would do such a thing."

Meanwhile, the governor of neighboring Helmand province, another bitter battleground against the Taliban, escaped unhurt with his provincial intelligence chief when a bomb attack targeted their convoy en route to the funeral.