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Karzai weeps over his slain brother
Afghan President Hamid Karzai cried and kissed his dead brother's face as thousands of mourners gathered today for the burial of Ahmad Wali Karzai, whose assassination a day earlier has left a power vacuum in Afghanistan's volatile south.
Two explosions were heard in Kandahar city soon after the burial, adding to tensions. It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts or whether they were any casualties.
Ahmad Wali Karzai, a younger half brother of the president and one of the most powerful and controversial men in southern Afghanistan, was killed by a trusted family security guard at his home in the city.
President Karzai, who flew to Kandahar hours after his brother was shot, led a procession of thousands of mourners under a tight security blanket from the centre of Kandahar city to the family's ancestral village of Karz, some 20 km away.
He was accompanied by his family and some of Afghanistan's most influential leaders, including at least one possible successor to Ahmad Wali Karzai's unofficial crown, Gul Agha Sherzai, currently the governor of eastern Nangarhar province.
The president knelt by the side of his brother's grave clutching his hand, weeping as the crowds looked on. Concerned mourners then pulled the president away, warning him that television cameras were recording his every move.
