Chairman of Afghan High Peace Council Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed Tuesday evening in an explosion at his house in capital Kabul, according to local TV channel Tolo.

Afghan policemen head to the site where an explosion occurred in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on Sept. 20, 2011. Chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed Tuesday evening in an explosion at his house in Kabul, according to local TV channel Tolo. (Xinhua/Ahmad Massoud)
Five people were killed, including Rabbani and Massum Stanikzai, head of the joint secretariat of the High Peace Council, Tolo quoted an Interior Ministry official as saying.

However, a neighbor of Rabbani told Xinhua on the spot that " the blast happened inside Rabbani's house, and many people, including Rabbani, are injured."

Another witness told Xinhua, "It is a suicide bombing."

Many Afghan National Security Force units have rushed to the site.

Rabbani, an aged former Mujahdeen leader and former president of Afghanistan, was selected by President Hamid Karzai as chairman of High Peace Council in October 2010.

The 70-member council was set up in October 2010 to broker peace with the Taliban insurgents.

However, the insurgent group repeatedly rejected the High Peace Council as a trick to deceive public opinion and called for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

 VietNamNet/Xinhuanet