The brother of the former police chief of Kandahar, Gen. Abdul Raziq, has been appointed as the new police chief of the southern province as head of National Directorate of Security (NDS), Masoom Stankzai, says Raziq’s killer made call to Pakistan minutes before the attack.
Tadeen Khan, the brother of Gen. Abdul Raziq, was introduced as the new police chief of the province during an event organized in the Kandahar Police Headquarters on Monday.
Gen. Raziq lost his life in an attack carried out by a gunman in Kandahar province last Thursday.
The provincial intelligence chief of the province Gen. Abdul Momin was also killed in the attack while the provincial governor Zalmay Weesa sustained injuries.
The NDS chief Massoom Stanekzai on Monday confirmed that the Kandahar provincial governor’s bodyguard who killed Kandahar police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq last week made a two and a half minute phone call about five minutes before the attack to someone across the border.
Addressing a press conference in Kandahar, Stanekzai said although references had been provided, the bodyguard turned out to have been using a fake name and false ID.
The NDS chief said the shooter had also spoken on the phone with someone across the border shortly before the attack. This conversation took place about five minutes before the shooting and lasted two and a half minutes.
Stanekzai said the bodyguard had been hired about a month and a half ago.
Raziq was killed when the bodyguard opened fire on him and other officials, including the provincial governor Zalmai Wesa, Gen. Abdul Momin Hassainkhail, the provincial NDS chief and Resolute Support commander Gen. Austin Scott Miller.
Hassainkhail was also killed in the shooting and the governor was wounded. Miller escaped unharmed.
The NDS chief said when the bodyguard opened fire on the officials, foreign troops with Miller also shot back.
According to Stanekzai, the meeting between the leaders lasted half an hour but no discussions were held on the Durand Line or on peace talks.
He also said at least 15 people have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Raziq but that investigations still continue.
On Friday, Miller told TOLOnews in an interview that he had not been the target of Thursday’s attack in Kandahar.
“What happened in Kandahar was an attack on the security forces,” he said.
“My assessment is that I was not the target. It was a very close confined space. But I don’t assess that I was the target,” he said.
The American general said he had visited Kandahar residents before the attack and that they showed their desire for peace and unity.
“Prior to the attack down in Kandahar, we were talking to the Kandahar people, and the messages we had from the Kandahar people were unity and peace, and confidence in the security forces, very specifically in preparation for the upcoming elections, the confidence in the security forces and our support as required,” he said.
