Afghan vice president killed

Afghan Vice President Haji Abdul Qadeer was assassinated in Kabul yesterday, with high level sources indicating he could have been the target of drug mafias who resented him joining the Hamid Karzai-led transitional government, with its perceived tilt towards the Tajiks and a promise to end poppy cultivation.

Two men sprayed his bullet proof vehicle with gunfire as Qadeer (55), also public works minister in the transitional government, left the offices of his ministry, officials in the Afghan capital Kabul said.

They fired at the vehicle from close range near the gates, also killing two of the four guards of the vice president, and fled the scene in a taxi.

A senior UN official said that the killing took place at around 1pm, and that initial speculation of rival warlords being the killers had given way to a growing suspicion that "the killing could be the result of a falling out over a drug deal."

"Police initially suspected that it could be either Haji Zaman or the family of Shomali Khan with whom he has a blood feud, following which it was believed that it could be yet another attempt by the Taliban, as the wedding killings to create a rift between the Pashtuns and the international forces. In the case of Qadeer, a rift within the Pashtuns," the UN official said.

His appointment as one of five vice presidents by Karzai last month was seen as a move to bring an end to the dominance of warlords by drawing them away from their traditional power bases.

Qadeer is understood to have wanted the key interior ministry post in Karzai's new cabinet, but diplomatic sources have said that the U.S. blocked his appointment over his reputation as a drug baron.

He was one of the wealthiest men in Afghanistan. Much of his fortune is thought to have stemmed from his links with the drugs trade in his eastern fiefdom which bordered Pakistan.

The assassination came some eight months after Qadeer's younger brother Abdul Haq was murdered by the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan while he was trying to whip up a revolt against them before their ouster in November last year.

Interior Minister Taj Moham-med Wardak told reporters in Kabul that an investigation was under way to determine the motive behind the assassination.

One official who saw Qadeer's body in the vehicle said that "he had bullet holes in his head and chest."

Qadeer, who was a fierce opponent of the Taliban, was "martyred in a terrorist attack", a government statement said.

"The Islamic government of Afghanistan, while expressing its great sadness, also expressed their condolences to the family members of this mujahed and national personality of Afghanistan."

Kabul police chief Bashir Salangi said 10 guards at the ministry had been arrested after the unidentified assassins escaped.

Salangi, who said that two gunmen had carried out the killing, added that "one of the guards came out and told one of the assassins that the minister was coming."