For a man squarely in the Taliban’s crosshairs, Kandahar’s provincial police chief was surprisingly lax about his security.

A suicide bomber penetrated the headquarters of Chief Khan Mohammad Mujaheed and assassinated him around 2:30 Friday afternoon.

The Taliban immediately claimed responsibility for taking out a man at the centre of Western-backed efforts to strengthen Afghan security forces in the insurgents’ heartland as Canadian and other allied forces begin withdrawing.

Afghan officials said the killer was dressed in a police uniform, highlighting yet again how easily the Taliban have infiltrated the Afghan security forces force that Canadian troops will be assigned to train after the combat mission ends in July.

The bomber waited for Mujaheed in the yard outside his headquarters building. U.S. troops supporting the Afghan police work in the same compound in Kandahar City, including guards stationed at a checkpoint near the police chief’s office.

As Mujaheed was leaving his headquarters, the suicide bomber hugged the chief, then set off a blast that blew up both men, Afghan officials said. The blast killed two other police and wounded another three.

Although Prime Minister Stephen Harper has insisted Canadian forces will be safely “behind the wire” on secure bases when they carry out the planned training mission, insurgents have shown time and again that they can penetrate well-guarded compounds.

When Mujaheed, a guerrilla veteran of the 1980s mujahedeen war against the Soviets, agreed to an interview with the Toronto Star in January, Afghan police at the front gate did careful body frisks and checked a camera bag for weapons.

But once in the compound, where U.S. soldiers supporting the Afghan police are also based, security was much looser. There were no metal detectors, body searches or other strict security checks for visitors to the police chief’s floor.

Afghan elders, with long beards, large turbans and desert dust on their shoes, milled around the crowded reception area outside Mujaheed’s office, at the end of a long corridor.

Several were said to be undercover agents and informants working for the security forces. The police chief joked with them, and hugged them heartily, as he moved between his main office and a meeting room adjoining the reception area.

Other men lounged on overstuffed couches, sipping hot tea, checking cellphone messages and casting suspicious glances at others waiting to see the chief.

During the interview, Mujaheed insisted that his force had the Taliban on the run, and denied that teams of Taliban assassins were terrorizing city, murdering hundreds of people and rarely getting caught.

The murders were mostly due to family squabbles and other “personal disputes,” the police chief insisted.

“According to my information, these days people are helping the police and security forces a lot, “ Mujaheed said in the interview.

 

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