A bomb in a mosque killed Governor Arsallah Jamal of eastern Logar province in Afghanistan as he was delivering a speech at the main mosque in the provincial capital of Puli Alam to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, The Associated Press reported.
This marks the highest profile assassination in recent months in Afghanistan, news reports said. An intensified campaign by groups are meant to intimidate candidates as they have been preparing for elections set for April 5, 2014.
The attack also wounded 15 people, including the mosque's mullah, said spokesman Din Mohammad Darwesh.
Jamal, a close confidant and adviser to Hamid Karzai, who held permanent resident status in Canada, according to a government source in Ottawa. was the Afghan's campaign manager during the 2009 presidential elections.
"Terrorists and the Taliban working in the name of Islam carry out attacks that result in the killing of innocent Muslims. Surely it is not the act of Muslim but those who have been hired to kill Muslims," Karzai said.
The attack came a week after Jamal confirmed the arrest of Latifullah Mehsud, an alleged senior aid to Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud. He also recently initiated "a major campaign against drug traffickers, land grabbers and other mafia groups," The AP added.
Jamal had previously survived many assassination attempts on his life, including suicide bombings at his office in Khost in May and July 2009, as well as a suicide car bomb attack that targeted his convoy, two years earlier, The AP also reported.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but terrorism experts point to the Taliban, since they have been fighting Karzai's administration for years, as well as the military presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan. Attacks against government officials are part of its modus operandi, particularly since the 2001 U.S. led invasion.
"The UN mission reiterates its call for such attacks to cease immediately and for respect of the sanctity of protected religious places such as mosques," said Jan Kubis, the UN special representative to Afghanistan.
