In Afghanistan, hundreds of people protested today against the assassination of Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani, chairman of the High Peace council constituted to negotiate peace talks with insurgents. They gathered near Prof. Rabbani’s house to remember him and protest against his killing. Many wore black headbands in the mourning. A number of government officials also came to pay their respects to their leader. The Police has made elaborate security arrangements to maintain law and order all over the city. The 71-year-old former President of Afghanistan was killed at his home in high security Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul last evening by a Taliban suicide bomber wearing explosives in his turban. The bomber posed as a Taliban messenger detonated the explosives as Prof. Rabbani embraced his host in a gesture of greeting. Prof. Rabbani was President of Afghanistan during 1992 to 1996. As the head of President Karzai's High Peace Counci, Prof. Rabbani attempted to broker peace with the Taliban. His assassination is seen as a blow to ongoing peace efforts in Afghanistan. Meanwhile preparations are going on for Prof. Rabbani's funeral. According to reports there will be a special ceremony at Presidential Palace in Kabul before taking his body for burial to his home province Badakshan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has returned from his foreign tour. Mr. Karzai has reached Kabul cutting short his New York tour inconnecton with the United Nations General Assembly. Before his departure he had a meeting with US President Barack Obama on Thursday. The assassination of Prof. Rabbani is yet another incident ofhigh-profile political killing after the assassination of PresidentHamid Karzai's younger brother Ahmad Wali Karzai. Ahmed Wali Karzai was killed in July, at his home in Kandahar by his own securitypersonnel. Two months earlier, Gen Daud Daud, the top police commander in northern Afghanistan was also killed in a suicide bomb attack. Last week, insurgents tatgeted the US embassy, the NATO headquarter and some other Afghan government buildings near Kabul’s diplomatic area. These attacks have taken place at a time when the U.S. has already announced draw dawn of its troops from Afghanistan. According to this plan all the NATO combat troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan by 2014.