Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani killed in Kabul

KABUL: The head of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who had been tasked with trying to negotiate a political end to the war, was killed early on Tuesday evening, a senior police officer said.

His 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".

"Rabbani has been martyred," Mohammed Zahir, head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Kabul Police, told Reuters. He had no further details.

Hashmatullah Stanikzai, spokesman for Kabul's police chief, said it was "probably" a suicide attack.

Copyright Reuters, 2011