Buddha statue villain shot dead

Maulavi Mohammed Islam Mohammadi, who was the Taleban's governor of Bamiyan province when the giant fifth-century statues were blown up in March 2001, was killed on his way to Friday prayers in the capital, Kabul.

A gunman dressed as a construction worker shot and killed him and wounded one of his two bodyguards with an AK47 assault rifle before fleeing.

Mohammadi was elected in 2005 to represent the northern province of Samangan in Afghanistan's parliament.

After that, Mohammadi said he should not be held responsible for the destruction of the statues, which the Taleban considered to be idolatrous and anti-Muslim. They were located in the provincial capital of Bamiyan where Mohammadi was based.

"It was not my decision. It was foreigners like Chechens and Arabs with the Taleban who made the decision. They were crazy people," Mohammadi said. "Even though I was governor, I had no power."

An international outcry followed the destruction of the Buddhas, which were chiselled into a cliff and famed for their size and location along the ancient Silk Road linking Europe and Central Asia.

Archaeologists in Bamiyan have been painstakingly collecting the stone remains of the two statues and are considering rebuilding them.

Mohammadi fled to the north of the country and was never detained after US-led forces defeated the Taleban in late 2001.