India condemns killing of Afghan envoy's brother

India on Thursday strongly condemned the killing of the elder brother of Afghan ambassador to India, Shaida Mohammad Abdali.

Sardar Mohammad Khan was shot dead on Monday in a mosque in Kandahar, the provincial governor's spokesman Samim Khpalwak said on Wednesday.

"We offer our sincerest condolences to His Excellency Shaida Mohammad Abdali, the Afghan ambassador to India. We strongly condemn this barbaric act," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said in his weekly press briefing.

"Though we do not know who is responsible for this incident but we have seen that there has been a pattern of targeted elimination of those who are opposed to the Taliban and other extremists and their methods," he said.

He said that this tragic incident "underlines and underscores once again that the single biggest challenge that Afghanistan faces today is terrorism which poses a grave risk to the security" of that South Asian nation and the stability of the region.

The Taliban has not claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series of killings targeting government officials, tribal elders and other prominent figures in Kandahar.