A bomb attack at an Afghanistan mosque killed the governor of Logar province on Tuesday as he addressed the first day of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, Reuters reported.
Governor Arsala Jamal served a significant section of Afghanistan, with close proximity to Kabul and home to one of the country's wealthiest oil mines. He was previously the governor of Khost province, which lays on the Pakistani border and was dealt high rates of violence.
"When the governor was giving a speech it detonated. He is martyred," said Jamal's spokesman, Din Mohammad Darwish. Other other person was also killed in the blast.
Darwish also said the bomb had been planted inside the mosque and detonated remotely, although police officers initially believed it was a suicide bomber.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Taliban militants have been targeting government officials as they refuse to participate in peace talks and refer to the upcoming presidential election as "illegitimate."
Jamal's death highlights the security concerns in Afghanistan as international troops prepare to decrease their presence as they put safety measures into the hands of national Afghan soldiers.
A group that supported Jamal's efforts to develop the Aynak copper mine suggested it was "enemies of the country" that killed him.
"Jamal... had done considerable work for the excavation of copper at the Aynak mine," the Independent Directorate of Local Governance agency said in a statement.
"These activities were not acceptable to the enemies of the country and that is why they martyred him on the first day of Eid al-Adha."
Jamal was a close friend to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and worked as his campaign manager during his re-election campaign in 2009. He spent some of his life in Canada, where his wife and children currently live.
He also close to death before, surviving a suicide bomber attack in 2007 that killed his security guards and another local official.
