A suicide bomber hiding explosives in his turban blew himself up inside a mosque during a memorial service for Afghan president Hamid Karzai's assassinated half brother, officials say.

THE younger half-brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, one of the most powerful and controversial men in southern Afghanistan, was shot dead at his home yesterday by a senior and highly trusted bodyguard, officials said.

Taliban militants determined to scuttle Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections showered rockets on cities today as men and women voted in a key test of the government’s ability to fight insurgents and entrenched corruption.

At least two people have been killed in the first hours of polling in Afghanistan’s parliamentary election, officials said.

A suicide bomb ripped through a wedding party in full swing in the Taliban’s heartland in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 40 people and wounding dozens more, officials said today.