KABUL, Nov 8: Haji Zahir, the son of an Afghan vice president who was murdered earlier this year, was involved in a shootout in which his bodyguard was killed, an Afghan military spokesman said on Friday.

A vehicle in which Zahir was travelling was fired upon on Thursday at a checkpoint between Jalalabad and Torkham, but the incident was not an assassination bid, the spokesman said.

Agha Jan, secretary for Hazarati Ali, the military commander of eastern zone, said Zahir’s bodyguard was shot by accident when the checkpost guards failed to recognize Zahir’s car.—AFP