Top Afghan negotiator shot

Afghan security forces guard the home of peace negotiator Maulvi Arsala Rahmani after his assassination in Kabul.

Rahmani was shot dead by gunman as he sat in traffic.

Police said the killers pulled up alongside his car in another vehicle.

Rahmani, seen here speaking in January, was one of the most senior members of Afghanistan's High Peace Council set up to liaise with Taliban insurgents.

He was a Taliban defector but retained strong ties to the movement.

The Taliban has denied involvement in his death.

A friend of Rahmani condemned the killers.

SOUNDBITE: NAJIBULLAH HABIBYAR, FRIEND OF MAULVI RAHMANI SAYING (Pashto):

"Those who have done this are the enemy of Afghanistan, enemy of peace and enemy of Islam (HE SAYS). Those people are against stabilization of peace in Afghanistan, that is why they have killed our national and Islamic figure."

The Taliban said Rahmani's death would not harm peace talks because the peace council had so far achieved nothing.

Last year the peace council's head, former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, was assassinated by a suicide bomber.

Paul Chapman, Reuters