Key Afghan figure shot and killed in Kabul ambush

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Abdul Qadir, a vice president and cabinet minister in the Afghan government and a key political figure for 25 years, was assassinated just after noon Saturday as his vehicle left his ministry compound in the capital.

Qadir, 48, was the second-highest-ranking ethnic Pashtun in the ethnically mixed government of President Hamid Karzai. Officials declined to speculate on motives behind the slaying but blamed "enemies of Afghanistan" seeking to destabilize the fledgling government.

Qadir and his driver died in a hail of automatic rifle fire when two assailants ambushed his vehicle and then escaped in a taxi. Qadir's vehicle was riddled with bullet holes, and windows on both sides were shattered. The front seats were covered with blood. On the armrest between the front seats lay a string of Muslim prayer beads.

Police officials said Qadir and his driver were traveling alone, without armed guards. Both were pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Kabul's military hospital.

"No member of this government is under any illusion that there are no risks. We are still fighting terrorism in all forms," said Omar Samad, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. "This was caused by the enemies of peace, stability and reconstruction. It was an act committed against everything the people of Afghanistan believe in."

Qadir's slaying was the second assassination of an Afghan cabinet minister in five months. On Feb. 14, Abdul Rahman, aviation and tourism minister for the then-interim government, was killed in a murky melee at Kabul's airport. No one has been arrested or charged.

After an emergency cabinet meeting Saturday night, the government issued a statement saying it has established a high-level commission to investigate the assassination of Qadir. It called him "a great man of jihad," the armed resistance to Soviet occupation in then 1980s, in which Qadir was an important militia leader.

Police detained 10 members of the security force at the Ministry of Public Works, where Qadir had just taken up his duties. They also held for questioning two witnesses, a cigarette vendor and a man who was guarding bicycles used by ministry employees.