Burhanuddin Rabbani, Afghanistan’s former president tasked with finding a peace deal with

Burhanuddin Rabbani, Afghanistan’s former president tasked with finding a peace deal with the Taliban, was assassinated on Tuesday in a suicide attack at his Kabul home, according to police.

Rabbani, who was president during the chaotic 1992-96 Afghan civil war, was last year appointed chief of the High Council for Peace that President Hamid Karzai tasked with negotiating with the Taliban, so far unsuccessfully.

His death is arguably the most high-profile political assassination since the 2001 US-led invasion outsed the Taliban from power 10 years ago and comes just two months after Karzai’s brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was also killed.

The bomber struck close to the US embassy. It was the second attack within a week to strike within Kabul’s supposedly secure diplomatic zone.

The Taliban were not immediately reachable for comment, but the insurgency led by its militia has hit Kabul increasingly hard in recent months.

Source AP