KABUL — Hashmat Khalil Karzai, a cousin of President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and a powerful supporter of the presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, was killed by a suicide bomber in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday as he greeted well-wishers at his home, government officials and a witness said.
Hashmat Karzai was killed instantly when a young man embraced him and set off a bomb in his turban, according to accounts of the attack in Kandahar province.
The bombing comes as political and security tensions have been rising in Afghanistan. Insurgent attacks in Kandahar province in recent days have rattled the population, which had only relatively recently begun to enjoy a period of peace and security. The country is also mired in political uncertainty as the presidential runoff election between Ahmadzai and his opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, has been halted amid allegations of widespread fraud and threats of violence, forcing organizers to conduct a full audit of the June poll.
Neither the Taliban nor anyone else has claimed responsibility for the attack.