The governor of Afghanistan's Logar province has been killed in an explosion, according to police and interior ministry officials.
Abdullah Wardak was killed outside his house in Paghman, about 20km west of the capital, Kabul, police said.
His bodyguard was also reportedly killed in Saturday's attack.
The Afghan interior ministry said that Wardak was killed by a roadside bomb planted by "enemies of Afghanistan".
"This morning his car hit a bomb on the side of the road. The governor has been martyred," Zemarai Bashary, an interior ministry spokesman, told the AFP news agency.
Abdul Razaaq, police chief of the district said that the roadside bomb was "remotely detonated" as the governor's vehicle passed at around 8:00 am (03:30 GMT).
However, police officials said that the former cabinet minister was killed in a suspected suicide attack.
"The suicide bomber was waiting near his residence. As the governor came out with his driver, he was targeted and killed," Ghulam Mustafa Mohseni, provincial police chief, told the Reuters news agency.
Waldak was the first provincial governor to be killed since the assassination of Hakim Taniwal, the governor of eastern Paktia province, in September 2006.
During the 2001 US-led invasion to force out the Taliban, Waldak commanded one of the armed Afghan groups fighting with the US military.
Nearly 3,000 people have been killed in violence in Afghanistan this year, the bloodiest period since the Taliban movement was forced from power.
PHOTO CAPTION
Afghanistan map locating Logar province
Al-Jazeera