When life imitates art.

KABUL (AFP) — A Taliban suicide bomber with concealed explosives in a turban on Tuesday assassinated former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was leading government peace efforts, police said.

The bomber struck during a meeting at the Kabul home of Rabbani, who was last year appointed chief of the Afghan High Peace Council that President Hamid Karzai tasked with negotiating with the Taliban.

His death is the most high-profile political assassination since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban from power and comes just two months after Karzai’s brother Ahmed Wali Karzai was also killed.

The attackers arrived at Rabbani’s house with Mohammad Massom Stanikzai, Rabbani’s deputy, for a meeting before the turban bomber detonated his explosives, according to one source amid conflicting reports of the incident.

A member of the High Peace Council, Fazel Karim Aymaq, said the men had come with “special messages” from the Taliban and were “very trusted.”