Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of President Hamid Karzai, Head of Kandahar Provincial Council and one of the most powerful men in southern Afghanistan, found dead in his house, Kandahar governor spokesman and a family member said on Tuesday.

"I confirm that Ahmad Wali was killed inside his house," Zalmay Ayoubi, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province said.

Wali Karzai was shot dead by his bodyguard, Sardar Mohammad, Ayoubi said, according to the Afghan TOLO news agency.

n response to Karzai's killing, police mobilised a massive response in Kandahar city, according to Kabul-based journalist Matthieu Aikins, who spoke to a resident. Checkpoints were "locked down," helicopters hovered overhead, and the road to the hospital, where Wali Karzai's body was taken, was blocked off.