Ex-Afghan president slain in his Kabul home

A former Afghan president who was chairing the country's High Peace Council was killed Tuesday by a suicide attacker with a bomb in his turban.

Burhanuddin Rabbani and four of his bodyguards were killed, and a key presidential adviser, Masoom Stanekzail, was injured.

"Rabbani has been martyred," said Mohammed Zahir, head of Kabul's police investigators.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack. "Yes, we carried out the attack on Rabbani," he told Reuters.

An unnamed Kabul police official said the attacker hid the explosives in his turban.

Coming on top of a recent uptick in violence, Rabbani's death underscores the precarious situation the country finds itself in as Western powers prepare to withdraw their armies and leave security to Afghan forces.

An Afghan government spokesman initially reported that President Hamid Karzai had canceled his trip to the U.S. in midflight after hearing of the attack, but it later turned out that Karzai traveled to New York for talks with President Barack Obama. He did, however, cancel his attendance at the U.N. General Assembly, which starts Tuesday.

Karzai and Obama told reporters after their meeting that the killing would not deter Afghanistan's peace process.

Rabbani's home is in Kabul's heavily guarded diplomatic enclave, and the attack came just a week after a 20-hour siege at the edge of the area sometimes known as the "green zone." At least five policemen and 11 civilians were killed.

Rabbani was formerly leader of a powerful mujahideen party during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and served as president in the 1990s, when mujahideen factions waged war for control of the country after the Soviet withdrawal.

After he was driven from Kabul in 1996, Rabbani became the nominal head of the Northern Alliance, mostly minority Tajiks and Uzbeks, who swept to power in Kabul after the Taliban's fall. Rabbani was an ethnic Tajik.

His death could unleash a well of resentment building up among some senior Northern Alliance members, who accuse President Hamid Karzai of colluding with the Taliban.

Already Afghanistan's ethnic minorities have begun to re-arm in the face of negotiations with the Taliban. Rabbani's death is likely to accelerate the re-arming and lay the foundation for a bitter civil war once U.S. troops leave the country in 2014.

Rabbani was chosen by Karzai to head the High Peace Council last October and his plan included offering amnesty and jobs to Taliban foot soldiers and asylum in third countries to leaders.

"This is a big blow to the peace process and huge loss for Afghanistan," said Sadiqa Balkhi, a member of peace council. "Professor Rabbani was an influential and spiritual leader and was successful in luring Taliban fighters into the peace process."

'Duck and cover' alarm

Rabbani's home is near the U.S. embassy, which sounded its "duck and cover" alarm warning of a possible attack.

A U.S. diplomat who asked not to be named said staff had taken cover, but said they had not been given any information about the possible threat.

Rabbani's assassination comes a week after the 20-hour siege and three suicide bomb attacks on other parts of the city since June — together the longest-lasting and most wide-ranging assault on the city.

All three of those attacks are believed to be the work of the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied insurgent faction, based along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

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